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'''Gravitomagnetism''' is the name given to the proposition that gravity, like electromagnetism, has a second field component produced not by mass but by ''mass in motion'' — so that a rotating body drags the space and the orbits around it in a way Newtonian gravity cannot describe.

==The standard account==

The idea predates general relativity. '''Oliver Heaviside''' proposed in 1893 that gravitation might be described by a pair of coupled field equations formally identical to [[James Clerk Maxwell|Maxwell's]], with a gravitational analogue of the magnetic field. In [[General Relativity|general relativity]] the same structure reappears as a limiting case: in the weak-field, slow-motion approximation the Einstein field equations linearise into a Maxwell-like form, with a gravitoelectric field reproducing Newtonian attraction and a '''gravitomagnetic''' field generated by mass currents.

Its best-known prediction is the '''Lense–Thirring effect''' (1918), or frame dragging: a gyroscope in orbit around a rotating mass precesses. The effect is tiny. Gravity Probe B, which flew from 2004 to 2005 with four cryogenic gyroscopes in polar orbit, reported a frame-dragging precession consistent with general relativity, though with a much larger uncertainty than the accompanying geodetic precession; satellite laser ranging to the LAGEOS and LARES satellites has been used to make the same measurement by a different route. Both determinations remain far less precise than most other tests of general relativity, and this is a real and acknowledged weakness rather than a manufactured one.

An important formal caution: in general relativity the Maxwell analogy is an approximation valid in a restricted regime, not an exact structural identity, and the sign conventions and factor-of-two differences from electromagnetism are frequently mishandled in the secondary literature.

==On this wiki==

Gravitomagnetism is one of the most heavily developed themes in this collection, chiefly through one researcher.

'''[[Thierry De Mees]]''' has built an entire programme on it, treating the second field — which he calls '''gyrotation''' — as a real Heaviside-style field rather than a metric approximation. His foundational papers are ''[[A Coherent Dual Vector Field Theory for Gravitation]]'' and ''[[Analytic Description of Cosmic Phenomena Using the Heaviside Field]]'', with the results collected in ''[[Gravitomagnetism: Successes in Explaining the Cosmos]]'' and ''[[Gravitomagnetism - Gravity beyond Einstein - including an introduction to the Coriolis Gravity Theory]]''. The claim that gives the programme its force is that a Newtonian-style dual-field theory reproduces, without curved spacetime, phenomena normally cited as evidence for general relativity or for exotic matter:

* flat galactic rotation curves without [[Dark Matter|dark matter]] — ''[[Deduction of Orbital Velocities in Disk Galaxies. "Dark Matter": a myth?]]'';
* the perihelion advance of Mercury, which he attributes to the Milky Way's own field — ''[[Mercury's Perihelion Advance is Caused by Our Milky Way]]'';
* the bipolar symmetry of supernova remnants — ''[[The Observed Symmetrical Supernovae Remnants Form Overwhelming Evidence for the Gravitomagnetic Force]]'' (see [[Supernova]]);
* planetary spin, ring systems and the [[Expanding Earth|inflation of planetary bodies]].

He also argues on historical grounds, in ''[[Did Einstein Cheat? How Einstein Solved the Maxwell Analogy Problem]]'', that the Maxwell analogy was available and was passed over.

'''[[Oleg D Jefimenko]]''' reached a related position from classical electrodynamics, developing a causal, retardation-based gravitational theory containing a second "cogravitational" field — a line of work independent of general relativity and pursued in [[:Category:Electrodynamics|classical field]] terms.

The wiki does not present a single view. '''[[Jerry Hynecek]]''' argues the opposite case in ''[[Why there is no Gravitomagnetic Force]]'', and this internal disagreement is worth taking seriously: the analogy's validity is disputed among the researchers catalogued here, not only between them and the mainstream.

On the experimental side, '''[[Martin Tajmar]]''' reported apparently anomalous gravitomagnetic-like signals around rotating superconductors — many orders of magnitude larger than general relativity allows — in ''[[Measurement of Gravitomagnetic and Acceleration Fields around Rotating Superconductors]]'' and ''[[Investigation of Frame-Dragging-Like Signals from Spinning Superconductors using Laser Gyroscopes]]''. The related superconductor–gravity coupling claims of '''[[Ning Li]]''' and '''[[Douglas G Torr]]''' are catalogued here as well, and are the main bridge between this topic and [[:Category:Antigravity|antigravity]] research. None of these laboratory claims has been independently confirmed, and this should be stated as plainly as the claims themselves.

==See also==

* [[Gravity]]
* [[General Relativity]]
* [[Thierry De Mees]]
* [[Dark Matter]]
* [[Expanding Earth]]
* [[James Clerk Maxwell]]

[[Category:Gravity]]
[[Category:Electrodynamics]]
[[Category:Theory & Models]]
[[Category:Relativity]]

Gravitomagnetism - Revision history

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