Mach’s principle

The second axiom, which is reminiscent of Mach s principle, also contains the seeds of Leibniz s Monads [reschQl]. All is process. That is to say, there is no thing in the universe. Things, objects, entities, are abstractions of what is relatively constant from a process of movement and transformation. They are like the shapes that children like to see in the clouds. The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen correlations (see section 12.7.1) remind us that what we empirically accept as fundamental particles - electrons, atoms, molecules, etc. - actually never exist in total isolation. Moreover, recalling von Neumann s uniqueness theorem for canonical commutation relations (which asserts that for locally compact phase spaces all Hilbert-space representations of the canonical commutation relations are physically equivalent), we note that for systems with non-locally-compact phase spaces, the uniqueness theorem fails, and therefore there must be infinitely many physically inequivalent and... 

Mach s principle, as formulated by Wheeler [wheel64a], states that the inertial properties of an object are determined by the energy-momentum distribution throughout all of space. 

V. A Possible Theoretical Response Mach s Principle Revisited... 

It is a matter of history that Einstein was greatly influenced by Mach s ideas as expressed in the latter s The Science of Mechanics (see, e.g., Ref. 19) and believed that they were incorporated in his field equations as long as space was closed [20], The modem general relativistic analysis gives detailed quantitative support to this latter view, showing how Mach s principle can be considered to arise as a consequence of the field equations when appropriate conditions are specified on an initial hypersurface in a closed evolving universe. In fact, in... 

Thus, it is a matter of record that a satisfactory incorporation of Mach s principle within general relativity can be attained when the constraint of closure is imposed. However, there is still the point of view that, because general relativity allows solutions that give an internally consistent discussion of an empty inertial spacetime—whereas it is operationally impossible to define an inertial frame in the absence of matter—then the theory (general relativity) must have a non-fundamental basis at the classical level. 

Although most reading this chapter will have a general understanding of Mach s principle, its centrality to our argument makes a short review a worthwhile investment. 

The analysis described above makes it clear that there is some kind of relationship between the distant galaxies, and the idea of relative inertial mass - and the statement of the existence of such a relationship—is termed Mach s principle. 

Although the conventional approach outlined above contains all the essential components of Mach s principle, it does not focus on what, in our view, is the essential point about the principle that it is impossible to define inertial frames in the absence of material. This fact is brought out most clearly in the following alternative approach. 

We have argued that the fundamental significance of Mach s principle arises from its implication of the impossibility of defining inertial frames in the absence of material or, as a generalization, we can say that it is impossible to... 

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