On Wednesday, exactly 100 years ago, Albert Einstein explained the final equations of his general theory of relativity. Which introduced the young German at age 36 was an abstract and seemingly inaccessible, as noted by the Colombian theory physicist Sergio Torres Arzayús- but now, a century later, is evident in the application of technologies that move the world.
It was a change in the way we understand the universe. An absolute turning to physics. At first he left more questions than concrete answers. But he survived a skepticism that was breath until almost half of your current life.
The press always asked Einstein summarized his theory. Despite the frustration that generated that question, ever solved well. “It is a theory of space and time that leads to a theory of gravity”
And yet today, a century after its formulation, explain general relativity is a challenge, Jorge Rueda, Colombian physicist, Doctor of relativistic astrophysics and professor Network International Center for Relativistic Astrophysics (Icranet, for its acronym in English) and University of Rome La Sapienza does in dialogue with time and the centenary of a meeting about this subject, which will be met this week in Bucaramanga (until Wednesday) and Bogota (Thursday and Friday).
How to understand the theory of general relativity?
It was a real paradigm shift in the thinking how it works the gravity. The concept of force was changed by Einstein, because he no longer believed in the force of attraction of two bodies but one, on the site where it is, creates a distortion in an amount that was a new concept: spacetime. Here no longer separated but together in a geometric concept. To understand it, it’s like when you place an object on a sheet of paper and this is deformed around the position of the object. If a ball is thrown towards that object, she moves around it following the deformation of the paper.
Why the complexity of formulating it?
In order to write, Einstein introduced concepts of physics that did not exist. Also, I had to rely on a mathematical did exist but had not found application in nature. Pseudoriemanniana were the concepts of geometry, a number of things he was learning and developing their mathematical friends. That famous union between Einstein and Marcel Grossmann, for example, the same with Tulio Levi Civita.
They were math wizards in four-dimensional geometry and Einstein had the stroke of genius to understand that these geometries could represent the union of space and time. You understand that when we go back in time also we in space.
<"ArticleBody" p itemprop => move and now the time is not absolute as Newton’s theory but becomes relative What had led to so much resistance?If today we still causes some amazement hundred years ago imagine how was the reaction. There were many skeptics, because it was essentially a theory and as everything in physics, needs to be tested. Few believed in it because it was too complex and no fundamental evidence.
Today, what is the importance of relativity?
The theory went through many doubts half their present life, despite the great triumph of the verification of its effect, as the advance of Mercury’s perihelion and the deflection of light observed in the eclipse of 1919 . For almost 50 years these people were skeptical and had to wait for the advancement of technology to see more extreme events in the universe. Many predictions in order to verify that technology have made progress. The creation of each new telescope, an instrument, a satellite, has been to test the predictions of relativity.
In the world of today, where is Relativity?
A timely example is the GPS technology, which uses the corrections of relativity to establish the position. We can also mention the Gravity Probe B mission NASA, which was to test the effects of general relativity around the Earth.
Are there things fail theory?
Rather than fail the theory, we fail in our physical models. If one wants to explain something there is always information variables, assumptions must be made. Of course there are limitations of the theory and is expected to fail under certain conditions. We have, for example, the macroscopic and microscopic, which until now have not been able to unite because they are built on different concepts. This is a current problem that many people are involved and which solution is far away. We hope that relativity fails in describing microscopic effects, such as when we study the physical conditions near the Big Bang.
Some mention the dark matter fails … In opinion, there I see no problem in theory, but the ingredients that we have to put into it to find a solution. Much has been attempted to explain the phenomena to which we attribute the presence of unseen material, with an effect of a modified gravity, which is separated from that of Einstein. However, there are many solutions to Einstein’s equations where, hypothesizing the existence of some kind of matter, yet not found in the laboratories, we can simulate the effect we observe.
Nicolas Gutierrez
Editor Congote TIME
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