On the optical-mechanical analogy in general relativity

Abstract

We demonstrate that the Evans-Rosenquist formulation of the optical mechanical analogy, so successful in the application to classical problems, also describes the motion of massless particles in the Schwarzschild field of general relativity. It is possible to obtain the well known equations for light orbit and radar echo delay which account for two exclusive tests of Einstein's field equations. Some remarks including suggestions for future work are also added.Comment: Uploaded on arxiv for the benefit of the researcher