Time, Inertia and the Relativity Principle Richard T
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The Special Theory of Relativity
THE SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY Lecture Notes prepared by J D Cresser Department of Physics Macquarie University July 31, 2003 CONTENTS 1 Contents 1 Introduction: What is Relativity? 2 2 Frames of Reference 5 2.1 A Framework of Rulers and Clocks . 5 2.2 Inertial Frames of Reference and Newton’s First Law of Motion . 7 3 The Galilean Transformation 7 4 Newtonian Force and Momentum 9 4.1 Newton’s Second Law of Motion . 9 4.2 Newton’s Third Law of Motion . 10 5 Newtonian Relativity 10 6 Maxwell’s Equations and the Ether 11 7 Einstein’s Postulates 13 8 Clock Synchronization in an Inertial Frame 14 9 Lorentz Transformation 16 9.1 Length Contraction . 20 9.2 Time Dilation . 22 9.3 Simultaneity . 24 9.4 Transformation of Velocities (Addition of Velocities) . 24 10 Relativistic Dynamics 27 10.1 Relativistic Momentum . 28 10.2 Relativistic Force, Work, Kinetic Energy . 29 10.3 Total Relativistic Energy . 30 10.4 Equivalence of Mass and Energy . 33 10.5 Zero Rest Mass Particles . 34 11 Geometry of Spacetime 35 11.1 Geometrical Properties of 3 Dimensional Space . 35 11.2 Space Time Four Vectors . 38 11.3 Spacetime Diagrams . 40 11.4 Properties of Spacetime Intervals . 41 1 INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS RELATIVITY? 2 1 Introduction: What is Relativity? Until the end of the 19th century it was believed that Newton’s three Laws of Motion and the associated ideas about the properties of space and time provided a basis on which the motion of matter could be completely understood. -
A Simple Derivation of the Lorentz Transformation and of the Related Velocity and Acceleration Formulae. Jean-Michel Levy
A simple derivation of the Lorentz transformation and of the related velocity and acceleration formulae. Jean-Michel Levy To cite this version: Jean-Michel Levy. A simple derivation of the Lorentz transformation and of the related velocity and acceleration formulae.. American Journal of Physics, American Association of Physics Teachers, 2007, 75 (7), pp.615-618. 10.1119/1.2719700. hal-00132616 HAL Id: hal-00132616 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00132616 Submitted on 22 Feb 2007 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. A simple derivation of the Lorentz transformation and of the related velocity and acceleration formulae J.-M. L´evya Laboratoire de Physique Nucl´eaire et de Hautes Energies, CNRS - IN2P3 - Universit´es Paris VI et Paris VII, Paris. The Lorentz transformation is derived from the simplest thought experiment by using the simplest vector formula from elementary geometry. The result is further used to obtain general velocity and acceleration transformation equations. I. INTRODUCTION The present paper is organised as follows: in order to prevent possible objections which are often not Many introductory courses on special relativity taken care of in the derivation of the two basic effects (SR) use thought experiments in order to demon- using the light clock, we start by reviewing it briefly strate time dilation and length contraction from in section II. -
Introduction
INTRODUCTION Special Relativity Theory (SRT) provides a description for the kinematics and dynamics of particles in the four-dimensional world of spacetime. For mechanical systems, its predictions become evident when the particle velocities are high|comparable with the velocity of light. In this sense SRT is the physics of high velocity. As such it leads us into an unfamiliar world, quite beyond our everyday experience. What is it like? It is a fantasy world, where we encounter new meanings for such familiar concepts as time, space, energy, mass and momentum. A fantasy world, and yet also the real world: We may test it, play with it, think about it and experience it. These notes are about how to do those things. SRT was developed by Albert Einstein in 1905. Einstein felt impelled to reconcile an apparent inconsistency. According to the theory of electricity and magnetism, as formulated in the latter part of the nineteenth century by Maxwell and Lorentz, electromagnetic radiation (light) should travel with a velocity c, whose measured value should not depend on the velocity of either the source or the observer of the radiation. That is, c should be independent of the velocity of the reference frame with respect to which it is measured. This prediction seemed clearly inconsistent with the well-known rule for the addition of velocities, familiar from mechanics. The measured speed of a water wave, for example, will depend on the velocity of the reference frame with respect to which it is measured. Einstein, however, held an intuitive belief in the truth of the Maxwell-Lorentz theory, and worked out a resolution based on this belief. -
Hypercomplex Algebras and Their Application to the Mathematical
Hypercomplex Algebras and their application to the mathematical formulation of Quantum Theory Torsten Hertig I1, Philip H¨ohmann II2, Ralf Otte I3 I tecData AG Bahnhofsstrasse 114, CH-9240 Uzwil, Schweiz 1 [email protected] 3 [email protected] II info-key GmbH & Co. KG Heinz-Fangman-Straße 2, DE-42287 Wuppertal, Deutschland 2 [email protected] March 31, 2014 Abstract Quantum theory (QT) which is one of the basic theories of physics, namely in terms of ERWIN SCHRODINGER¨ ’s 1926 wave functions in general requires the field C of the complex numbers to be formulated. However, even the complex-valued description soon turned out to be insufficient. Incorporating EINSTEIN’s theory of Special Relativity (SR) (SCHRODINGER¨ , OSKAR KLEIN, WALTER GORDON, 1926, PAUL DIRAC 1928) leads to an equation which requires some coefficients which can neither be real nor complex but rather must be hypercomplex. It is conventional to write down the DIRAC equation using pairwise anti-commuting matrices. However, a unitary ring of square matrices is a hypercomplex algebra by definition, namely an associative one. However, it is the algebraic properties of the elements and their relations to one another, rather than their precise form as matrices which is important. This encourages us to replace the matrix formulation by a more symbolic one of the single elements as linear combinations of some basis elements. In the case of the DIRAC equation, these elements are called biquaternions, also known as quaternions over the complex numbers. As an algebra over R, the biquaternions are eight-dimensional; as subalgebras, this algebra contains the division ring H of the quaternions at one hand and the algebra C ⊗ C of the bicomplex numbers at the other, the latter being commutative in contrast to H. -
David Bohn, Roger Penrose, and the Search for Non-Local Causality
David Bohm, Roger Penrose, and the Search for Non-local Causality Before they met, David Bohm and Roger Penrose each puzzled over the paradox of the arrow of time. After they met, the case for projective physical space became clearer. *** A machine makes pairs (I like to think of them as shoes); one of the pair goes into storage before anyone can look at it, and the other is sent down a long, long hallway. At the end of the hallway, a physicist examines the shoe.1 If the physicist finds a left hiking boot, he expects that a right hiking boot must have been placed in the storage bin previously, and upon later examination he finds that to be the case. So far, so good. The problem begins when it is discovered that the machine can make three types of shoes: hiking boots, tennis sneakers, and women’s pumps. Now the physicist at the end of the long hallway can randomly choose one of three templates, a metal sheet with a hole in it shaped like one of the three types of shoes. The physicist rolls dice to determine which of the templates to hold up; he rolls the dice after both shoes are out of the machine, one in storage and the other having started down the long hallway. Amazingly, two out of three times, the random choice is correct, and the shoe passes through the hole in the template. There can 1 This rendition of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen, 1935, delayed-choice thought experiment is paraphrased from Bernard d’Espagnat, 1981, with modifications via P. -
(Special) Relativity
(Special) Relativity With very strong emphasis on electrodynamics and accelerators Better: How can we deal with moving charged particles ? Werner Herr, CERN Reading Material [1 ]R.P. Feynman, Feynman lectures on Physics, Vol. 1 + 2, (Basic Books, 2011). [2 ]A. Einstein, Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter K¨orper, Ann. Phys. 17, (1905). [3 ]L. Landau, E. Lifschitz, The Classical Theory of Fields, Vol2. (Butterworth-Heinemann, 1975) [4 ]J. Freund, Special Relativity, (World Scientific, 2008). [5 ]J.D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics (Wiley, 1998 ..) [6 ]J. Hafele and R. Keating, Science 177, (1972) 166. Why Special Relativity ? We have to deal with moving charges in accelerators Electromagnetism and fundamental laws of classical mechanics show inconsistencies Ad hoc introduction of Lorentz force Applied to moving bodies Maxwell’s equations lead to asymmetries [2] not shown in observations of electromagnetic phenomena Classical EM-theory not consistent with Quantum theory Important for beam dynamics and machine design: Longitudinal dynamics (e.g. transition, ...) Collective effects (e.g. space charge, beam-beam, ...) Dynamics and luminosity in colliders Particle lifetime and decay (e.g. µ, π, Z0, Higgs, ...) Synchrotron radiation and light sources ... We need a formalism to get all that ! OUTLINE Principle of Relativity (Newton, Galilei) - Motivation, Ideas and Terminology - Formalism, Examples Principle of Special Relativity (Einstein) - Postulates, Formalism and Consequences - Four-vectors and applications (Electromagnetism and accelerators) § ¤ some slides are for your private study and pleasure and I shall go fast there ¦ ¥ Enjoy yourself .. Setting the scene (terminology) .. To describe an observation and physics laws we use: - Space coordinates: ~x = (x, y, z) (not necessarily Cartesian) - Time: t What is a ”Frame”: - Where we observe physical phenomena and properties as function of their position ~x and time t. -
Principle of Relativity in Physics and in Epistemology Guang-Jiong
Principle of Relativity in Physics and in Epistemology Guang-jiong Ni Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433,China Department of Physics , Portland State University, Portland,OR97207,USA (Email: [email protected]) Abstract: The conceptual evolution of principle of relativity in the theory of special relativity is discussed in detail . It is intimately related to a series of difficulties in quantum mechanics, relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum field theory as well as to new predictions about antigravity and tachyonic neutrinos etc. I. Introduction: Two Postulates of Einstein As is well known, the theory of special relativity(SR) was established by Einstein in 1905 on two postulates (see,e.g.,[1]): Postulate 1: All inertial frames are equivalent with respect to all the laws of physics. Postulate 2: The speed of light in empty space always has the same value c. The postulate 1 , usually called as the “principle of relativity” , was accepted by all physicists in 1905 without suspicion whereas the postulate 2 aroused a great surprise among many physicists at that time. The surprise was inevitable and even necessary since SR is a totally new theory out broken from the classical physics. Both postulates are relativistic in essence and intimately related. This is because a law of physics is expressed by certain equation. When we compare its form from one inertial frame to another, a coordinate transformation is needed to check if its form remains invariant. And this Lorentz transformation must be established by the postulate 2 before postulate 1 can have quantitative meaning. Hence, as a metaphor, to propose postulate 1 was just like “ to paint a dragon on the wall” and Einstein brought it to life “by putting in the pupils of its eyes”(before the dragon could fly out of the wall) via the postulate 2[2]. -
'Relativity: Special, General, Cosmological' by Rindler
Physical Sciences Educational Reviews Volume 8 Issue 1 p43 REVIEW: Relativity: special, general and cosmological by Wolfgang Rindler I have never heard anyone talk about relativity with a greater care for its meaning than the late Hermann Bondi. The same benign clarity that accompanied his talks permeated Relativity and Common Sense, his novel introductory approach to special relativity. Back in the Sixties, Alfred, Brian, Charles and David - I wonder what they would be called today - flashed stroboscopic light signals at each other and noted the frequencies at which they were received as they moved relative to each other. Bondi made of the simple composition of frequencies a beautiful natural law that you felt grateful to find in our universe’s particular canon. He thus simultaneously downplayed the common introduction of relativity as a rather unfortunate theory that makes the common sense addition of velocities unusable (albeit under some extreme rarely-experienced conditions), and renders intuition dangerous, and to be attempted only with a full suit of algebraic armour. A few years ago, I tried to teach a course following Bondi’s approach, incorporating some more advanced topics such as uniform acceleration. I enjoyed the challenge (probably more than the class did), but students without fluency in hyperbolic functions were able to tackle interesting questions about interstellar travel, which seemed an advantage. Wolfgang Rindler is no apologist for relativity either and his book is suffused with the concerns of a practicing physicist. Alongside Bondi’s book, this was the key recommendation on my suggested reading list and, from the contents of the new edition, would remain so on a future course. -
Reconsidering Time Dilation of Special Theory of Relativity
International Journal of Advanced Research in Physical Science (IJARPS) Volume 5, Issue 8, 2018, PP 7-11 ISSN No. (Online) 2349-7882 www.arcjournals.org Reconsidering Time Dilation of Special Theory of Relativity Salman Mahmud Student of BIAM Model School and College, Bogra, Bangladesh *Corresponding Author: Salman Mahmud, Student of BIAM Model School and College, Bogra, Bangladesh Abstract : In classical Newtonian physics, the concept of time is absolute. With his theory of relativity, Einstein proved that time is not absolute, through time dilation. According to the special theory of relativity, time dilation is a difference in the elapsed time measured by two observers, either due to a velocity difference relative to each other. As a result a clock that is moving relative to an observer will be measured to tick slower than a clock that is at rest in the observer's own frame of reference. Through some thought experiments, Einstein proved the time dilation. Here in this article I will use my thought experiments to demonstrate that time dilation is incorrect and it was a great mistake of Einstein. 1. INTRODUCTION A central tenet of special relativity is the idea that the experience of time is a local phenomenon. Each object at a point in space can have it’s own version of time which may run faster or slower than at other objects elsewhere. Relative changes in the experience of time are said to happen when one object moves toward or away from other object. This is called time dilation. But this is wrong. Einstein’s relativity was based on two postulates: 1. -
Albert Einstein's Key Breakthrough — Relativity
{ EINSTEIN’S CENTURY } Albert Einstein’s key breakthrough — relativity — came when he looked at a few ordinary things from a different perspective. /// BY RICHARD PANEK Relativity turns 1001 How’d he do it? This question has shadowed Albert Einstein for a century. Sometimes it’s rhetorical — an expression of amazement that one mind could so thoroughly and fundamentally reimagine the universe. And sometimes the question is literal — an inquiry into how Einstein arrived at his special and general theories of relativity. Einstein often echoed the first, awestruck form of the question when he referred to the mind’s workings in general. “What, precisely, is ‘thinking’?” he asked in his “Autobiographical Notes,” an essay from 1946. In somebody else’s autobiographical notes, even another scientist’s, this question might have been unusual. For Einstein, though, this type of question was typical. In numerous lectures and essays after he became famous as the father of relativity, Einstein began often with a meditation on how anyone could arrive at any subject, let alone an insight into the workings of the universe. An answer to the literal question has often been equally obscure. Since Einstein emerged as a public figure, a mythology has enshrouded him: the lone- ly genius sitting in the patent office in Bern, Switzerland, thinking his little thought experiments until one day, suddenly, he has a “Eureka!” moment. “Eureka!” moments young Einstein had, but they didn’t come from nowhere. He understood what scientific questions he was trying to answer, where they fit within philosophical traditions, and who else was asking them. -
Equivalence Principle (WEP) of General Relativity Using a New Quantum Gravity Theory Proposed by the Authors Called Electro-Magnetic Quantum Gravity Or EMQG (Ref
WHAT ARE THE HIDDEN QUANTUM PROCESSES IN EINSTEIN’S WEAK PRINCIPLE OF EQUIVALENCE? Tom Ostoma and Mike Trushyk 48 O’HARA PLACE, Brampton, Ontario, L6Y 3R8 [email protected] Monday April 12, 2000 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We wish to thank R. Mongrain (P.Eng) for our lengthy conversations on the nature of space, time, light, matter, and CA theory. ABSTRACT We provide a quantum derivation of Einstein’s Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP) of general relativity using a new quantum gravity theory proposed by the authors called Electro-Magnetic Quantum Gravity or EMQG (ref. 1). EMQG is manifestly compatible with Cellular Automata (CA) theory (ref. 2 and 4), and is also based on a new theory of inertia (ref. 5) proposed by R. Haisch, A. Rueda, and H. Puthoff (which we modified and called Quantum Inertia, QI). QI states that classical Newtonian Inertia is a property of matter due to the strictly local electrical force interactions contributed by each of the (electrically charged) elementary particles of the mass with the surrounding (electrically charged) virtual particles (virtual masseons) of the quantum vacuum. The sum of all the tiny electrical forces (photon exchanges with the vacuum particles) originating in each charged elementary particle of the accelerated mass is the source of the total inertial force of a mass which opposes accelerated motion in Newton’s law ‘F = MA’. The well known paradoxes that arise from considerations of accelerated motion (Mach’s principle) are resolved, and Newton’s laws of motion are now understood at the deeper quantum level. We found that gravity also involves the same ‘inertial’ electromagnetic force component that exists in inertial mass. -
Principle of Relativity and Inertial Dragging
ThePrincipleofRelativityandInertialDragging By ØyvindG.Grøn OsloUniversityCollege,Departmentofengineering,St.OlavsPl.4,0130Oslo, Norway Email: [email protected] Mach’s principle and the principle of relativity have been discussed by H. I. HartmanandC.Nissim-Sabatinthisjournal.Severalphenomenaweresaidtoviolate the principle of relativity as applied to rotating motion. These claims have recently been contested. However, in neither of these articles have the general relativistic phenomenonofinertialdraggingbeeninvoked,andnocalculationhavebeenoffered byeithersidetosubstantiatetheirclaims.HereIdiscussthepossiblevalidityofthe principleofrelativityforrotatingmotionwithinthecontextofthegeneraltheoryof relativity, and point out the significance of inertial dragging in this connection. Although my main points are of a qualitative nature, I also provide the necessary calculationstodemonstratehowthesepointscomeoutasconsequencesofthegeneral theoryofrelativity. 1 1.Introduction H. I. Hartman and C. Nissim-Sabat 1 have argued that “one cannot ascribe all pertinentobservationssolelytorelativemotionbetweenasystemandtheuniverse”. They consider an UR-scenario in which a bucket with water is atrest in a rotating universe,andaBR-scenariowherethebucketrotatesinanon-rotatinguniverseand givefiveexamplestoshowthatthesesituationsarenotphysicallyequivalent,i.e.that theprincipleofrelativityisnotvalidforrotationalmotion. When Einstein 2 presented the general theory of relativity he emphasized the importanceofthegeneralprincipleofrelativity.Inasectiontitled“TheNeedforan