Ground measurements of the gravitational redshift questioned:re-establishing the physical bases

Abstract

Motivated by alleged inconsistencies in the scientific and educational literature, Asenbaum, Overstreet and Kasevic \href{https://doi.org/10.1088/1402-4896/ad340c}{(2024)} aim to clarify some fundamental concepts in the physics of gravitation. To this end they reexamine the first experimental measurement of the gravitational redshift by Pound and Rebka in 1960, claiming that it did not in fact measure the gravitational redshift predicted by Einstein almost half a century earlier, but rather a Doppler shift originating from non-gravitational reaction forces. We show that their conclusion arises from a misunderstanding of the reference systems involved, along with an unphysical interpretation of non gravitational forces. Thus, our work restores the Pound and Rebka experiment to its rightful place in Physics.