Cosmology, Mach’s principle and relativity

Abstract

The significance of Mach’s principle (and the implicit relativity principle) for field theory is discussed, also the significance of zero-mass boson fields for the geometry of the physical space. The significance of such fields for Mach’s principle within the framework of cosmology is also discussed. It is suggested that the distant matter of the universe generates one or two zero-mass boson fields, very likely a tensor field and perhaps a scalar, and that each of these fields propagates, carrying into the laboratory a quasistatic influence having its origin primarily in the distant matter of the universe. The observable effects of these “Machian fields” are described.