From: jbytof@astro.umd.edu (Jeff Bytof)
Newsgroups: alt.sci.physics.new-theories
Subject: Gravity and Inertia from Electrodynamics?
Date: 28 Apr 1994 23:45:04 GMT
Organization: U. of Maryland @ College Park, Astronomy
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For your consideration, here are the abstracts:

"Gravity as a zero-point-fluctuation force"
H.E. Puthoff (Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin)
_Physical Rev. A_, V39, N5, March 1, 1989, pp2333-2342

Sakharov has proposed a suggestive model in which gravity is not a 
separately existing fundamental force, but rather an induced effect 
associated with zero-point fluctuations (ZPF's) of the vacuum,
in much the same manner as the van der Waals and Casimir forces.
In the spirit of this proposal we develop a point-particle-ZPF 
interaction model that accords with and fulfills this hypothesis.
In the model gravitational mass and its associated gravitational 
effects are shown to derive in a fully self-consistent way from 
electromagnetic-ZPF-induced particle motion (_Zitterbewegung_).
Because of its electromagnetic-ZPF underpinning, gravitational 
theory in this form constitutes an "already unified" theory.


"Inertia as a zero-point-field Lorentz force" 
Benhard Haisch (Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory)
Alfonso Rueda (Dept. of Electrical Eng., Cal State Long Beach)
H.E. Puthoff (Inst. for Advanced Studies at Austin)
_Physical Review A_, V49, N2, Feb. 1994, pp678-694

Under the hypothesis that ordinary matter is ultimately made of 
subelementary constitutive primary charged entities or "partons" bound
in the manner of traditional elementary Planck oscillators (a time-
honored classical technique), it is shown that a heretofore univestigated
Lorentz force (specifically, the magnetic component of the Lorentz
force) arises in any accelerated reference frame from the interaction 
of the partons with the vacuum electromagnetic zero-point field (ZPF).
Partons, though asymptotically free at the highest frequencies, are 
endowed with a sufficiently large "bare mass" to allow interactions
with the ZPF at very high frequencies up to the Planck frequencies.  This 
Lorentz force, though originating at the subelementary parton level,
appears to produce an opposition to the acceleration of material objects
at a macroscopic level having the correct characteristics to account
for the property of inertia.  We thus propose the interpretation that
inertia is an electromagnetic resistance arising from the known spectral
distortion of the ZPF in accelerated frames.  The proposed concept also
suggests a physically rigorous version of Mach's principle.  Moreover,
some preliminary corroboration is suggested for ideas proposed by
Sakharov [references omitted] and further explored by one of us
[see first article, above] concerning a ZPF-based model of Newtonian 
gravity, and for the equivalence of inertial and gravitational mass
as dictated by the principle of equivalence. 


-Jeff