Darin Sunley <umsunley@cc.umanitoba.ca> writes:
> > Unfortunately, there are no simple sensors directly measuring
> > spacetime curvature...
>
> Wouldn't Robert Forward's Mass Detector work? Space time curvature is
> equivalent to mass is it not?
Yes, it measures space-time curvature. If I remember my MisnerThorneWheeler right, you can calculate the components of the local metric tensor by having three orthogonal mass detectors (or should there be more? there are ten independent components).
> As an aside, are we attempting to detect spacetime curvature due to mass, or
> other types of spacetime curvature? (ARE there any other types of spacetime
> curvature, and wouldn't they be equivalent to mass?)
You can have curvature without any mass, gravitational waves are a good example. But the equivalence principle essentially says that acceleration is acceleration, regardless of the cause.
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