Post-Einsteinian Effects in the General Theory of Relativity from Higher-Order Riemannian Geometry

Abstract

In Part I of this series, the author has shown how to extend the framework of Riemannian geometry so as to include infinitesimals of higher than first order. The purpose of the present contribution is to initiate an investigation into the implications of higher-order differential geometry for the general theory of relativity. As we have seen, a novel concept of inertial motion is implied in the analogue of the geodesic equation when modified to include the effects of higher infinitesimals and it therefore should not come as a surprise that it has potentially observable kinematic consequences. The route we prefer to take goes through the Einstein-Hilbert action generalized to reflect the presence of higher infinitesimals and a cosmological constant. A variational principle yields an hierarchy of field equations, which reduce to the Einsteinian case at first order. In the weak-field limit, we recover the usual relativistic equation for a moving body to leading order. To exemplify the theoretical framework, we undertake a preliminary study of the Schwarzschild solution and Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmology in the presence of second-order terms. But the most exciting results concern the novel effects in orbital mechanics that arise when the higher-order corrections cannot be neglected. Indeed, the higher-order Riemannian geometry predicts a modification of Newtonian dynamics corresponding to the Pioneer anomaly for a spacecraft on a hyperbolic escape trajectory from the solar system and to the flyby anomaly for the differential between ingoing and outgoing asymptotic velocities of a spacecraft passing near a rotating planet -- both of which are found to agree well with sensitive empirical findings.