Rethinking the Concept of Space-Time in the General Theory of Relativity: The Deflection of Starlight and the Gravitational Red Shift

In order to confirm the prediction of the General Theory of Relativity that space and time are relative and that matter warps a dynamic space-time continuum that surrounds it, Einstein suggested two optical tests: one being the gravitational deflection of starlight, and the second being the gravitational red shift. The tests confirmed the predictions of the General Theory of Relativity. The observational results for the deflection of starlight were inconsistent with the predictions of Newtonian theory as developed by Soldner, and the Newtonian theory developed by Laplace was not rigorous enough to account for the observational results of the gravitational red shift. Both observational results can be explained equally well by (1) the General Theory of Relativity, which assumes that photons submissively propagate through a dynamic space-time continuum, which is warped by the presence of matter; or (2) the theory presented here, which assumes that the photon itself has dynamic properties and it propagates through absolute Euclidean space and Newtonian time. The second alternative, which can explain the deflection of starlight, the gravitational red shift, gravitational lensing, and clock synchronization in the Global Positioning System (GPS) has the advantage of encompassing many of the dynamical properties of photons that were neither known to Newton nor employed by Einstein.