Does relativistic mass affect space time in the same way as rest mass?
To my understanding, (as I am not an actual physicist, but simply a citizen scientist) relativistic mass is really the measure of an object's energy. It is not the same as rest mass, which is the definition of mass that a layperson would be familiar with (how much matter an object is composed of). However, does a change in relativistic mass amount to the same magnitude of gravitational variation as an equivalent change in rest mass?
Answer
In General relativity , it is the stress energy tensor that defines space time curvature. Thus mass is a secondary definition.
The stress–energy tensor is the source of the gravitational field in the Einstein field equations of general relativity, just as mass density is the source of such a field in Newtonian gravity.
Relativistic mass is not a good concept in defining a particles energy and momentum which will enter the stress energy equations, although it started from the T00 component of the stress energy tensor, by defining an energy density.
Excess velocity will give excess energy and momentum, the same as excess Newtonian mass, but one should keep a distinction in the concepts to avoid confusion.
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