Wayne Throop wrote:
> : Erik Max Francis <max@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> : The generator of spacetime curvature, and thus gravity, isn't just
> : just mass, but stress-energy, which is a tensor of which mass is but
> : one component, the others being energy, stress, pressure, and so on.
>
> Could a singularity be considered a "monopole"?
> But also... does it really make sense to talk about a monopole
> as something odd and special if there's no dipole?
No it doesn't, hence why I was confused what in the world he was asking
in the first place :-).
What he really means is "charge," not "monopole." In Newtonian
mechanics, one can speak of mass as being "gravitational charge."
"Gravitational monopoles," much less "gravitoelectric" or
"gravitomagnetic" ones, will result in scrunched eyebrows.
In electromagnetism, there are two sources of charge: electric and
magnetic. Electric charge is the one we're all familiar with and is
usually just called, of course, charge. Magnetic charge is called
poles, but they always show up in equal and opposite pairs, hence
"dipoles." A hypothetical isolated magnetic charge, or pole, is a
monopole -- and "monopole" only makes sense if you're talking about some
kind of field charge that only comes in equal and opposite pairs.
--
Erik Max Francis && max@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
&& http://www.alcyone.com/max/
San Jose, CA, USA && 37 18 N 121 57 W && AIM, Y!M erikmaxfrancis
There's a right one for everyone / For real
-- Sandra St. Victor
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