| | While Dicke accepted [[Theory of Relativity|Relativity]], both special and general, he believed that plain General Relativity did not fully explain gravity. Along with his former student Carl Brans, he formulated the Brans-Dicke theory, which includes a scalar field in addition to the tensor field defined by general relativity. This "scalar-tensor theory" (as opposed to plain relativity, which is just a "tensor theory") included a scalar field, usually denoted ω, which, when assigned a certain value, they believed matched experimental data better. (When ω is set to infinity, the Brans-Dicke theory becomes equivalent to plain General Relativity.) Brans and Dicke suggested a value of about 5. The observable differences between Brans-Dicke and general relativity are extremely tiny, but the Mariner and Cassini spacecraft (below) clearly detected this<ref name="exper">Multiple references: | | While Dicke accepted [[Theory of Relativity|Relativity]], both special and general, he believed that plain General Relativity did not fully explain gravity. Along with his former student Carl Brans, he formulated the Brans-Dicke theory, which includes a scalar field in addition to the tensor field defined by general relativity. This "scalar-tensor theory" (as opposed to plain relativity, which is just a "tensor theory") included a scalar field, usually denoted ω, which, when assigned a certain value, they believed matched experimental data better. (When ω is set to infinity, the Brans-Dicke theory becomes equivalent to plain General Relativity.) Brans and Dicke suggested a value of about 5. The observable differences between Brans-Dicke and general relativity are extremely tiny, but the Mariner and Cassini spacecraft (below) clearly detected this<ref name="exper">Multiple references: |
| | *Time magazine article, Nov. 23, 1970, explaining how the Mariner space probe supported plain relativity and refuted Brans-Dicke. Currently behind a "paywall". [http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943324,00.html Science: A Victory for Relativity]. | | *Time magazine article, Nov. 23, 1970, explaining how the Mariner space probe supported plain relativity and refuted Brans-Dicke. Currently behind a "paywall". [http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943324,00.html Science: A Victory for Relativity]. |
| − | *Jet Propulsion Laboratory memo, Nov. 13, 1970. [http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/70s/release_1970_0566.html] | + | *[http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/70s/release_1970_0566.html Jet Propulsion Laboratory memo, Nov. 13, 1970] |
| | *[https://books.google.com/books?id=9ZuP9JQzc00C&pg=PA157&lpg=PA157&dq=brans-dicke%2Bmariner&source=bl&ots=Y2jhf2OjcU&sig=C8qWD1E5ukCe_5DiKObCiWjAEKg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=cCw9VcfBE8HksASynoHICw&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=brans-dicke%2Bmariner&f=false The Rise and Fall of the Brans-Dicke Theory]</ref> | | *[https://books.google.com/books?id=9ZuP9JQzc00C&pg=PA157&lpg=PA157&dq=brans-dicke%2Bmariner&source=bl&ots=Y2jhf2OjcU&sig=C8qWD1E5ukCe_5DiKObCiWjAEKg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=cCw9VcfBE8HksASynoHICw&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=brans-dicke%2Bmariner&f=false The Rise and Fall of the Brans-Dicke Theory]</ref> |