Light is Heavy

M. B. van der Mark; G. W. 't Hooft

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arXiv · 1508.06478

Light is Heavy

M. B. van der Mark·G. W. 't Hooft

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Abstract

Einstein's relativity theory appears to be very accurate, but at times equally puzzling. On the one hand, electromagnetic radiation must have zero rest mass in order to propagate at the speed of light, but on the other hand, since it definitely carries momentum and energy, it has non-zero inertial mass. Hence, by the principle of equivalence, it must have non-zero gravitational mass, and so, light must be heavy. In this paper, no new results will be derived, but a possibly surprising perspective on the above paradox is given.

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M. B. van der Mark, G. W. 't Hooft. 2015-08-26. Light is Heavy. https://arxiv.org/abs/1508.06478

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