General relativity and cosmology derived from principle of maximum power or force

Abstract

The field equations of general relativity are shown to derive from the existence of a limit force or of a limit power in nature. The limits have the value of c^4/4G and c^5/4G. The proof makes use of a result by Jacobson. All known experimental data is consistent with the limits. Applied to the universe, the limits predict its darkness at night and the observed scale factor. Some experimental tests of the limits are proposed. The main counter-arguments and paradoxes are discussed, such as the transformation under boosts, the force felt at a black hole horizon, the mountain problem, and the contrast to scalar--tensor theories of gravitation. The resolution of the paradoxes also clarifies why the maximum force and the maximum power have remained hidden for so long. The derivation of the field equations shows that the maximum force or power plays the same role for general relativity as the maximum speed plays for special relativity.