A covariant approach to the definition of the gravitational mass defect is proposed. The system of gravitational field equations is supplemented by an equation for the mass of a body. A spherically symmetric static problem of the island type is considered as an example, and it is shown that, due to the gravitational mass defect, twice the mass of the body in a volume of arbitrary radius (in standard coordinates) is always less than this radius. Some other consequences are considered.
Department of Quantum Theory and High-Energy Physics, Faculty of Physics, Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, Moscow, 119992, Russia
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