What Is a Singularity in Geometrized Newtonian Gravitation?. Issue 5 (December 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Weatherall, James Owen
• Is Part Of: Philosophy of science. Volume 81:Issue 5(2014)
• Page Start: 1077
• Page End: 1089
• Publication Date: 2014-12
• Subjects: Science -- Periodicals; Science -- Philosophy; Science; Science -- Philosophy; Philosophie des sciences; Epistemology; Periodicals; 501
• DOI: 10.1086/678239
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1539-767X

Abstract

Abstract : I discuss singular space-times in the context of the geometrized formulation of Newtonian gravitation. I argue first that geodesic incompleteness is a natural criterion for when a model of geometrized Newtonian gravitation is singular, and then I show that singularities in this sense arise naturally in classical physics by stating and proving a classical version of the Raychaudhuri-Komar singularity theorem.