Gravitation and Forces Induced by Zero-Point Phenomena

Abstract

A recent proposal asserts that gravitational forces arise due to an interaction between matter and vacuum electromagnetic zero-point radiation. The present analysis demonstrates that forces induced on matter by zero-point radiation arise in addition to gravitational forces. It is argued that zero-point radiation should be red-shifted near large gravitational sources while remaining essentially undetectable within freely falling reference frames. On this basis, an effective weight of an observer stationed near the surface of the Earth is derived for the case when zero-point radiation is present.