Abstract
In general relativity it is difficult to work with the concept of a classical phenomenological spring model since it involves action at a distance. We propose a toy relativistic model exhibiting oscillatory behavior and investigate its motion in selected gravitational fields.
The simple model can be used to study the behavior of extended objects falling freely in a background gravitational field. Unlike previous glider-type models, the present system only involves local interaction, avoiding thus the pitfalls of superluminal motion.
Moreover, it locally satisfies energy-momentum conservation.