A Strange Feature of Einstein's most Recent Generalized Field Theory

Abstract

Einstein and Straus¹ developed a unified field theory in which the field variables consist of sixteen elements g_μv (μ,v = 1, 2, 3, 4) of a non-symmetric tensor connected by a number of field equations. Schrödinger² also propounded a similar theory in which the field equations are nearly the same except that they contain additional terms involving a parameter λ, which takes a role analogous to that of the cosmological constant. Einstein's field equations will follow from Schrödinger's equation if we put λ = 0. Though there exists at present some confusion regarding the interpretation of the field variables, yet the most plausible and apparently most natural interpretation is to take the symmetric part of the tensor as the metric and the antisymmetric part as the electromagnetic tensor. The solution of Einstein's field equation for the case can be obtained by writing λ = 0 for corresponding solutions of Schrödinger's field equations obtained by Papapetrou³, and will be as follows: It is very natural to interpret m as mass and e as charge in this case.