The Florida Institute of Theoretical Physics conducts education and research in relativistic gravitation (RG). This is the formulation of gravitation based on physical principles instead of the geometric, or “metric” formulation of general relativity (GR). It utilizes 3 spatial dimensions and one of time. It is not an explanation of GR, but instead is offered as an equivalent (to GR), self-contained theory of particle motion in a central gravitational field. The results are identical to those of GR in the weak-field limit, however they differ from GR in strong fields. These latter predictions have not yet been experimentally verified.
While this approach may seem inelegant to some modern physicists, it predicts new results, including: massive particles or photons do escape from the Schwarzschild radius (and below) of a central gravitating mass. Black holes are therefore not entirely black but rather are grey. Otherwise RG reduces to general relativity in weak fields and makes the same proven predictions in that limit.
Relativistic gravitation equations of motion are the result of the postulate that particles follow paths of extremal proper time, e.g. geodesics. Solutions to these equations of motion lead to now-familiar results including; 1) orbital precession, 2) gravitational red shift, and 3) gravitational light deflection. This theory provides a physical understanding of how time, length, and mass are altered by acceleration. However total time dilation, spatial contraction, and particle mass in RG are shown to be the combination of those of acceleration and uniform motion. These transformations are currently being applied to cosmology.
Details and results on these efforts are provided in the papers and other information available through the menu selections above.