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The Stress-Energy-Momentum Tensor is the source of gravity in General Relativity. Momentum, as well as mass, pressure and shear stress are components of that tensor, which represents the flow of energy in every possible direction.

Thereby, is momentum a source of gravity? Meaning that a massive object, travelling close to the speed of light, would have a greater gravitational pull than another object of same mass but no momentum?

Would it be possible, for instance, to accelerate a massive object so close to the speed of light that it becomes a black hole?

Qmechanic
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Diogo Afonso Leitão
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  • Possible duplicate of Does non-mass-energy generate a gravitational field? – Michael Seifert May 13 '18 at 19:48
  • Possible duplicate: https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/3436/2451 – Qmechanic May 13 '18 at 19:59
  • In addition to the above answers, you may find questions on the gravitation of light interesting: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/6197/do-two-beams-of-light-attract-each-other-in-general-theory-of-relativity . Since it is massless, the momentum at a given energy density is maximized, and therefore the effects of those other terms in the stress energy tensor are as large as possible (of the same size as the energy density itself). – Rococo May 13 '18 at 20:07
  • Thank you! So a black hole will not form, but is it correct to say that an object of mass m, travelling near the speed of light, generates a greater gravitational pull than another object of mass m at rest? – Diogo Afonso Leitão May 13 '18 at 20:21

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