{ 1

On The Gravitomagnetism And Its Consequences

Arbab . I. Arbab1;2 y
1
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Khartoum, P.O. Box 321, Khartoum 11115, Sudan
2
Department of Physics and Applied Mathematics, Faculty of Applied Sciences and Computer, Omdurman
Ahlia University, P.O. Box 786, Omdurman, Sudan
(Received 8 February 2009)
In the framework of unifying hydrodynamics with electrodynamics we have shown that accelerating
(spinning) objects emit gravitational wave as those determined by Larmor formula for the acceler-
ating charged particle. We have found new formulae for the power of Gravitational waves radiated
by spinning and orbiting objects. Limiting values for the wavelength of the radiated light for ob-
jects having a typical solar mass and radius is in the range of x-rays. The gravitomagnetic elds
produced by Mercury, Earth, Jupiter and Sun are calculated and Mercury is found to produced the
largest value.

1. Introduction
In 1916 Albert Einstein predicted based on General Relativity that vibrating (accelerated)
masses should create gravitational waves. But because of the weak strength of gravity, only
enormous masses undergoing huge accelerations would form gravitational waves with strong
enough eects to be barely detectable. Gravity waves have not yet been detected directly. How-
ever, the predicted in uence of gravitational waves on a binary pulsar was measured by Taylor
and Hulse. A rapidly spinning neutron star emits two beams of radio waves along its magnetic
axes. When the spin axis and magnetic axis are not identical, the radio beams are swept in
two arches around the sky. If a beam path occasionally sweeps towards the Earth, a radio pulse
can be detected, in this case with a period between pulses of 0.05903 sec. Thus, the star which
is composed exclusively of neutrons is called a pulsar. This pulse period would be extremely
stable except the observed period actually varies by several tens of microseconds as result of a
Doppler shift indicating that the neutron star orbits a binary partner. Taylor and Hulse found
an additional variation: The orbit period is declining by about 75 millionths of a second per
year. These two stars are orbiting each other in a gradually smaller (therefore faster) orbit. The
explanation is that these two massive stars are strongly accelerated by their circular orbits and
thus required to lose energy in the form of gravity waves as predicted by general relativity. The
Nobel Prize recognizes this rst indirect verication of gravity waves. It is believed that current
technology now enables the direct detection of gravity waves. Gravitational waves are ripples
in the fabric of space and time produced by violent events in the distant universe, such as the
y Email: aiarbab@uofk.edu
2 Arbab. I. Arbab
collision of two black holes or shockwaves from the cores of supernova explosions. Such gravity
waves could bring with them information about their cataclysmic origins, as well as invaluable
clues as to the nature of gravity.
General relativity predicts that a spinning mass distorts space-time one of a variety of 'gravit-
omagnetic' phenomena that are absent in Newtonian gravity. Unfortunately, gravitational forces
are so weak that it is useless to try to detect this warping of space-time unless the mass is very
large and spinning rapidly an astronomical body, say, such as the Earth or the Sun, or a pulsar.
The Lense-Thirring precession (also known as frame dragging) due to the Earths rotation can
be measured. In general relativity a rotating mass will drag space along with it, leading to eects
which would be completely absent in Newtonian gravity. For example, a gyroscope in polar orbit
about the Earth will show an extra precession due to the Earths one-revolution-per-day spin.
One of the problems with general relativity is that gravity is much too weak. Every time we
come up with some cool eect (gravitational waves, frame dragging, time dilation), it turns out
that its almost impossible to see the eect. Frame dragging is no exception. If we were near a
rapidly rotating black hole, frame dragging would jump out at us: a gyroscope would wobble all
over the place.
We have recently established an analogy between hydrodynamics and electrodynamics. Ac-
cording to this analogy, the hydrodynamics equations are similar to Maxwell equations. One
can follow the same method in solving electrodynamics problems as done in the corresponding
electrodynamics. In this paper we would like to study the gravitational waves radiated by an
accelerating object in the same fashion as an accelerating charge in electrodynamics. The power
radiated by an accelerating charge is given by Larmor formula. Consequently and according to
our analogy, we assume that such a formula should exists that gives the power radiated by an
accelerating mass. We also like to study the gravitomagnetic eld of these accelerating objects.
The gravitoelectric and magnetic elds, B ~ g and E~ g , are given by the Maxwellian-like equations
(Arbab, 2009). In this paper we would like to calculate the resulting gravitational eects arising
from this analogy.

2. Gravitomagnetism and Electromagnetism

Whereas in electrodynamics an electric charge generates an electric eld and a current of
electric charge produces a magnetic eld, in Newtonian gravitational theory the mass of a
body generates a gravitational eld but a current of mass, for example the rotation of a body,
does not produce any additional gravitational eld. On the other hand, Einsteins gravitational
theory predicts that a current of mass generates an additional gravitomagnetic eld that exerts
a force on surrounding bodies and changes the spacetime structure by generating additional
curvature. Peng (1983) by linearizing Einstein equations, he has written them in the form of
the Maxwell equation. He also (Peng, 1990) has introduced gravitomagnetic eld equations into
 On The Gravitomagnetism And Its Consequences 3
the investigation of gravitomagnetic eects on a superconductor. The Lense-Thirring eect,
also known as inertial frame dragging, is a predicted consequence of general relativity and is
expected to occur in the vicinity of a rotating massive body. Lense and Thirring predicted that
the rotation of a massive object would alter the space time around it, in eect causing nearby
inertial frames to rotate slightly.
Using quaternions we have recently shown that (Arbab, 2009)
r~
E~ g = "m = 4G ; (2.1)
g

~
r~  B~ g = g J~ + c12 @@tEg ; (2.2)
~
r~  E~ g + @@t
Bg
= 0: (2.3)

r~
B~ g = 0 ; (2.4)
where "g = 4G1 , G the Newton's constant. We assume here that the gravitational wave travels

with speed of light c, i.e., "g g c2 = 1. Equations similar to these equations can be derived from
general relativity equations in the limit of weak eld (Peng, 1983). However, these equations
come with a negative sign of the density term. Moreover, there is an ambiguity in dening
the gravitomagnetic eld. It is remarkable that our above equations is in full agreement with
the Maxwell's equations. In General Relativity, the gravitomagnetic eld due to the angular
momentum L ~ of a central body is, in the weak-eld and slow-motion approximation is given by
!
2G ~ 3(L
L ~
r^)^r
~=
B ; (2.5)
c2 r3 r3
where r is the radial distance from the central body. The gravitomagnetic eld generates frame-
dragging of a gyroscope in a way formally similar to the magnetic eld producing a change of
orientation of a magnetic needle (magnetic dipole). Indeed, in General Relativity, a current of
mass in a loop, that is a gyroscope, has a behavior formally similar to that of a magnetic dipole
in electrodynamics which is made of an electric current in a loop.
The gravitomagnetic eld created by an object moving with velocity ~v in a gravitoelectric
eld E~ g is given by (Arbab, 2009)
~ g = ~v  E~ g ! 3 R2
B
c2
) B g =
c2
; (2.6)

where E~ g = ~a is the gravitoelectric eld. For spinning body one has a = ! 2 R, where R and !
are the radius and angular velocity of the spinning body. The gravitomagnetic eld of would be
very enormous for neutron stars and black holes which have high spinning rate.
For the Earth we get the value Bg = 1:738  10 16 rad s 1 (0:113 arcsec=cy) and for Mars we
get the value Bg = 4:57  10 17 rad s 1 (0:0297 arcsec=cy) for Jupiter we get Bg = 6:96 
4 Arbab. I. Arbab
10 16 rad s 1 (0:4522 arcsec=cy).It is interesting to note that for large and fast spinning objects
this gravitomagnetic eld will be enormously large. The gravitomagnetic force on spinning mass
is given by F~m = m ~v  B
~ g . Using Eq.(2.6) one can calculate the ratio between the centripetal
force of spinning body to the gravitomagnetic force is given by
!  2
Fm v
= : (2.7)
Fg c
This clearly shows that this gravitomagnetic force is a relativistic correction to the gravitational
force. The gravitomagnetic eld arised due to orbital motion is given by
~ g = ~v  ~a v3 (GM)3=2
B
c2
) Bg =
c2 r
; B g =
c2 r5=2
; (2.8)
where v is the orbital speed of the object and M is the mass of the central body. Inserting the
numerical values of the constants one gets
Bg = 1:71  1013 r 2:5 rad s 1: (2.9)
The gravitomagnetic eld generated by the Sun at the Earth site is 210 15 rad s 1 (1:3 arcsec=cy).
Similarly, the gravitomagnetic eld raised by the Earth at the Moon site is equal to 2:89 
10 17 rad s 1 (0:01877arcsec=cy) and for Mercury one gets 2:11  10 14 rad s 1 (13:7 arcsec=cy).
The gravitomagnetic eld of the universe is  10 18 rad s 1 . to This is in fact the consequence of
applying Biot-Savart law in the form we derived before to gravitational system (Arbab, 2009).
Consequently, one can calculate the gravitational spin-orbit interaction between the Earth spin
and orbital motion. From this calculation one can estimate the value of the gravitational mag-
netic moment of the Earth. The value of the gravitational magnetic moment has a dimension of
angular momentum (orbital/spin). These gravitomagnetic eld can be measured using Gravity
Probes. The gravitomagnetic eld is manifested by making a gyroscope wobbles. The spin of
the Earth causes the gyroscope to wobble. Hence, the gravitomagnetic eld aects the orbits of
satellites.
Due to the presence of the gravitomagnetic eld, we expect to nd a Lorentz gravitomagnetic
force acting on any orbiting object of mass m about a central mass M, given by
mv 4
 
mv 2 v 2
Fm = m ~v  Bg ;
~ ~ Fm = 2 ) Fm = ; (2.10)
cr r c
whose value is given by
G2 mM 2 1 GM
Fm = ; Fm = 2 m ! 2 : (2.11)
c2 r3 c
Equation (2.10) can be written as
GmM Rs
  R 
s
Fm = ; Fm = F g ; (2.12)
r2 2r 2r
where Fg = GmM r2 is the gravitational force between the two bodies and Rs = c2 is the
2GM
 On The Gravitomagnetism And Its Consequences 5
Schwartzchild radius. This shows that when a mass orbiting at distance r = 1R ,
the two
2 s
force will be the same. Hence, the gravitomagnetic forces will be signicant for binary pulsars.
The gravitomagnetic force between the Earth and Sun is 3:5  1014 N. The gravitomagnetic
force between the Earth and Moon is 2:28  109 N. Equation (2.10) shows the gravitomagnetic
force is similar to tidal force which proportional to the distance cubically. This implies the
gravitogagnetic acceleration is
G2 M 2 1
am = 2 3 ; Fm = mam : (2.13)
c r
Inserting the values of the constant for the solar system one has the magnetic acceleration of all
planets in the solar system
am = 1:977  1023 r 3 (m s 2 ) : (2.14)
The Earth is accelerated by the Sun's gravitomagnetic eld with a magnitude of 5:86 
10 11 ms 2 . Hence, the gravitomagnetic force is a secondary force eect of gravity. It is a short
range force. Hence, the total (eective) force acting on a mass m due to another mass M is
GmM R
  mv 2 v
 2 !
Fe: = 1 + s ; or Fe: = 1+ : (2.15)
r2 2r r c
This shows that the gravitomagnetic force is a relativistic correction to the Newtonian force.
Equation (2.14) represents the Lorentz force (Arbab, 2009) which takes the general form
Fh = m(E~ g + ~v  B
~ g) ; (2.16)
where E~ g = ~a. The gravitoelectric force (mEg ) corresponds to the ordinary Newtonian force of
gravity. Hence, the total acceleration of the a mass m is
GM R
  v2 v
 2 !
ae: = a + am = 2 1 + s ; or ae: = 1+ : (2.17)
r 2r r c
Equation (2.14) represents the modied Newton's law of gravitation that is applicable to celestial
objects. This force can arise from (a modied) a potential of the form
GmM
 R
Ve: = 1+ s : (2.18)
r 4r
Such an additional terms arises in higher dimensional modied gravity models, in particular in
5 - dimension (Arkani-Hamed, et al., 1998). The second term in Eq.(2.16) represents a potential
of a gravitational dipole.
Notice that the eective potential is generally a mathematical expression integrating angular
momentum into a potential energy of a dynamical system in order to reduce the problem to
a fewer dimension. Comparing the above equation with the standard formula for the eective
potential for a mass (m) orbiting a central mass (M), namely
L2 GmM
Ve: = 2 : (2.19)
2mr r
6 Arbab. I. Arbab
we deduce that the gravitomagnetic force is an attractive force that perturbs Newton's force.
However, in the long run this force will help the two masses to merge. Since the planets orbits are
elliptical the magnetic force on these planets makes them oscillate about the Newtonian orbit.
Comparing Eqs.(2.16) and (2.17) shows that the angular momentum of the orbiting system
is L = GmM c . It is interesting if one can relate the additional term in the above potential to
the gravitational spin-orbit interaction. Thus, it remarkable that one can obtain all analogous
formulae in gravitation by invoking the EMH analogy without deriving them.
Equation (2.15) can be written as
Ge: mM
 R
Fm = 2 ; Ge: (r) = G 1 + s (2.20)
r 2r
so that the gravitational Newtonian force preserve its ordinary form. It is evident that when
r ! 1; Ge: ! G. A gravitational constant varying with distance has been introduced by many
authors (....). This setting would aect the orbital period of planets. In this case the Kepler's
third law will become
4 2 3 4 2
 R
s
T2 = r = 1 r3 : (2.21)
Ge: M GM 2r
But since Rs = 2GM 2r
c2 and T = v , the above equation becomes
s
2r 2r
T= 1; r >> Rs ; (2.22)
c Rs
so that the angular velocity is
c
!= q : (2.23)
2r
r Rs 1
Therefore, because of the magnetic force the orbital period is shorten and the angular velocity
increases.

3. Gravitational Radiation
According to the electromagnetic theory an accelerating (decelerating), ~a, charged particle
emits an electromagnetic radiation with power
2 q 2 a2
Pem = ; (3.1)
3 4"0 c3
According to our analogy, 1
4"0 ! G, q ! m, one has a power generated by an accelerating
(spinning) mass as
2 Gm2 a2
Ph = : (3.2)
3 c3
This can be casted in the form
2 Gm2 4 2
Ph = ! R ; (3.3)
3 c3
 On The Gravitomagnetism And Its Consequences 7
where a = ! 2 R,
R is the radius of the body and ! is its angular velocity.
Equation (3.3) can be written as
2 Gm2 c
 v 4 2 v
 4
Ph = = c Fg ; (3.4)
3 R2 c 3 c
2
where v is the velocity of the spinning mass and Fg = GmR2 is the self-gravitational force holding
the spinning mass. The in fact represents the relativistic correction to the Newtonian power.
This is in agreement with the luminosity of a galaxy as governed by the Tully Fisher law (Tully
and Fisher, 1977).
The power radiated by the Earth acceleration (deceleration) due to its spin, where R =
6378 km, ! = 7:27  10 5 rad s 1 , is Ph = 6:7  1010 W . This energy can be compared with the
dissipation energy of the Earth due to its despinning, because of tidal forces raised by the Moon
which is 3:0  1012 W . For the Sun one nds, Ph = 2:26  1020 W , while the Sun luminosity is
3:8  1026 W . This can be compared with Jupiter which generates a power of Ph = 2:5  1019 W .
It is an amazing coincidence that the power radiated by the Universe during its initial ex-
pansion (Planckian period) and at the present time is the same and is equal to Ph = 1052 W .
That is so because the Planckian acceleration and the present accelerations are respectively,
a0 = 10 10 ms 2 and aPl = 1051 ms 2 (Arbab, 2004, 2005). Notice however that a = ! 2 R = H 2 R,
where H = 10 18 rad s 1 is the Hubble constant and R = 1026 m is the universe radius. This
present acceleration can be obtained from the relation a = GmR2 = 10
10 ms 2 , where m = 1053 kg

is the universe mass. We remark this coincidence is embedded in that fact that the maximal
power is attained by the universe only. This implies that the force holding the universe at Planck
time is the same as the the one holding it now. The value of this force is 1043 N.
The centripetal acceleration of an orbiting body of mass m about a massive body of mass M
is given
GM
a= 2 (3.5)
r
so that the gravitational power radiated the orbiting body is given by
2 G 3 m2 M 2
Ph = = 1:17  105 m2 r 4 (W) ; (3.6)
3 c3 r 4
or
2G 2
Ph = F : (3.7)
3 c3 g
In terms of the orbital velocity, Eq.(3.6) becomes
2 m
 2  v 3
Ph = v5 : (3.8)
3G M c
Accordingly, the gravitational power radiated by the Earth Sun system is equal to 2:05  109 W .
The Sun delivers a power of 1:8  1017 W . This can be compared by the power radiated by the
8 Arbab. I. Arbab
Earth due to spin which is 6:7  1010 W .The orbital gravitational power radiated by Jupiter is
1:14  10 W .
12

For the binary pulsar PSR 1913+16 which is a system of two neutron stars having an orbital
period of 7.75 hours at a distance of 1:95  109 m, one has 4:1  1028 W , which is the typical
value for x-ray luminosity of an x-ray pulsar. This huge power is radiated away (lost) in a form
of a gravitational radiation. Consequently, the orbital distance and the period of the system will
decay with time.
The maximal power is given by (Arbab, 2004, 2005)
c5
Pmax: = : (3.9)
G
If spinning gravitational objects emits the gravitational energy with the maximum power, then
c2
!max: = p : (3.10)
GmR
so that the minimum wavelength is
2c
min: = p : (3.11)
GmR
For a typical object of m = 1M and R = 1R , one has
min: = 0:19A0 : (3.12)
This is a typical x-ray wavelength. Hence, spinning objects of solar type emits x-rays.
Using Eq.(3.3) we see that the intensity of the radiated energy is given by
Gm2 4
Ih = ! : (3.13)
6 c3
This formula resembles the Rayleigh-Jeans law for the black-body radiation at low frequency.
For this reason we expect that it might not give the correct value for fast spinning objects
(e.g., pulsars). Planck formula may be the appropriate intensity distribution of the gravitational
wave radiated by all spinning masses. Equation (3.11) can be compared with Stefan law, where
! / 1 / T , which is the Wien-displacement law. If we assume that this intensity is radiated
like a black body at a temperature T (in kelvin), then one has
p
T = 3:89  10 8 m !: (3.14)
The Earth will radiate at a temperature 6:9 K and Jupiter at 296 K.
Inserting the numerical values of the physical constants, one obtains
Ih = 5:24  1023 2 ! 4 ; (3.15)
where  = Mm . According to the above formula the intensity (energy ux) radiated by the Sun
is 37:0 W m 2 and by the Earth is 2:47 W m 2 . The universal energy ux at the present time
is I0  1 mW m 2 . However, Jupiter radiates with 363 W m 2 , which is about 10 times that
 On The Gravitomagnetism And Its Consequences 9
of the Sun. Jupiter receives an energy from the Sun which is about 55 W m Hence, Jupiter 2.

radiates more energy than it receives. These can be compared with the solar constant which is
1366 W m 2 . The intensity of the gravitational energy radiated during Planck time to the one
radiated during the present time is so huge. This yields the ratio 10122 . This ratio coincides with
the ratio of vacuum energy at Planck time and the present time that particle physicists have
found. It is not clear here what source of radiation this energy is radiated, but most probably
in gravitational waves!

4. Concluding Remarks
We have used the EMH analogy to arrive at the power radiated by spinning and orbital
gravitational objects. Gravitational objects of solar type emits their maximum power at x-ray
wavelength. The gravitomagnetic eld are calculated depending on wether the mass is spinning
or orbiting. The gravitomagnetic eld produced by the Sun at Mercury site in relatively bigger
than other astronomical objects. Gravitomagnetic force on masses is similar to the tidal force.

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