On the relativistic origin of inertia and zero-point forces

Abstract

Current approaches to the problem of inertia attempt to explain the inertial properties of matter by expressing the inertial mass appearing in Newton's second law of motion in terms of some other more fundamental interaction. One increasingly popular approach explains inertial and gravitational forces as drag forces arising due to quantum vacuum zero-point phenomena. General relativity, however, suggests that gravitational and inertial forces are manifestations of space-time geometry. Based on this, the present analysis demonstrates that inertia and zero-point forces are ultimately relativistic in origin. Additionally, it is argued that body forces induced on matter through zero-point interactions are resistive forces acting in addition to inertia.