Nonequivalence of equivalence principles

Equivalence principles played a central role in the development of general relativity. Furthermore, they have provided operative procedures for testing the validity of general relativity, or constraining competing theories of gravitation. This has led to a flourishing of different, and inequivalent, formulations of these principles, with the undesired consequence that often the same name, “equivalence principle,” is associated with statements having a quite different physical meaning. In this paper, we provide a precise formulation of the several incarnations of the equivalence principle, clarifying their uses and reciprocal relations. We also discuss their possible role as selecting principles in the design and classification of viable theories of gravitation.