Abstract
In the case of a gravitating mass of perfect fluid which has come to thermodynamic equilibrium, it has previously been shown that the proper temperature as measured by a local observer would depend in a definite manner on the gravitational potential at the point where the measurement is made. In the present article the conditions of thermal equilibrium are investigated in the case of a general static gravitational field which could correspond to a system containing solid as well as fluid parts. Writing the line element for the general static field in the form
where the and are independent of the time it is shown that the dependence of proper temperature on position at thermal equilibrium is such as to make the quantity a constant throughout the system.
- Received 27 October 1930
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.36.1791
©1930 American Physical Society