Proposal of Experimental Test of General Relativity Theory

Abstract

On the basis of the relativistic mass-energy concept we found that a proper mass of a test particle in a gravitational field depends on a potential energy, hence, a freely falling particle has a varying proper mass. Consequently, a multitude of freely falling reference frames cannot be regarded as a multitude of equivalent inertial reference frames. There is a class of experiments, in which an inner observer can distinguish between the state of free fall in a gravitational field and the state of free space by detecting the effect of a proper mass variation. If so, a demonstration of a violation of the Equivalence Principle is possible. It is shown that a variant of the classical Pound-Rebka-Snider experiment on a photon frequency shift in a gravitational field, if conducted in a freely falling laboratory, would be such a test. Abbreviation: SRT- the Special Relativity Theory, GRT- the General Relativity Theory, EP - the Equivalence Principle, PRS - the Pound-Rebka-Snider (experiment)