Spacetime Diagrams and Einstein's Theory for Dummies
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Relativity with a Preferred Frame. Astrophysical and Cosmological Implications Monday, 21 August 2017 15:30 (30 Minutes)
6th International Conference on New Frontiers in Physics (ICNFP2017) Contribution ID: 1095 Type: Talk Relativity with a preferred frame. Astrophysical and cosmological implications Monday, 21 August 2017 15:30 (30 minutes) The present analysis is motivated by the fact that, although the local Lorentz invariance is one of thecorner- stones of modern physics, cosmologically a preferred system of reference does exist. Modern cosmological models are based on the assumption that there exists a typical (privileged) Lorentz frame, in which the universe appear isotropic to “typical” freely falling observers. The discovery of the cosmic microwave background provided a stronger support to that assumption (it is tacitly assumed that the privileged frame, in which the universe appears isotropic, coincides with the CMB frame). The view, that there exists a preferred frame of reference, seems to unambiguously lead to the abolishmentof the basic principles of the special relativity theory: the principle of relativity and the principle of universality of the speed of light. Correspondingly, the modern versions of experimental tests of special relativity and the “test theories” of special relativity reject those principles and presume that a preferred inertial reference frame, identified with the CMB frame, is the only frame in which the two-way speed of light (the average speed from source to observer and back) is isotropic while it is anisotropic in relatively moving frames. In the present study, the existence of a preferred frame is incorporated into the framework of the special relativity, based on the relativity principle and universality of the (two-way) speed of light, at the expense of the freedom in assigning the one-way speeds of light that exists in special relativity. -
Frames of Reference
Galilean Relativity 1 m/s 3 m/s Q. What is the women velocity? A. With respect to whom? Frames of Reference: A frame of reference is a set of coordinates (for example x, y & z axes) with respect to whom any physical quantity can be determined. Inertial Frames of Reference: - The inertia of a body is the resistance of changing its state of motion. - Uniformly moving reference frames (e.g. those considered at 'rest' or moving with constant velocity in a straight line) are called inertial reference frames. - Special relativity deals only with physics viewed from inertial reference frames. - If we can neglect the effect of the earth’s rotations, a frame of reference fixed in the earth is an inertial reference frame. Galilean Coordinate Transformations: For simplicity: - Let coordinates in both references equal at (t = 0 ). - Use Cartesian coordinate systems. t1 = t2 = 0 t1 = t2 At ( t1 = t2 ) Galilean Coordinate Transformations are: x2= x 1 − vt 1 x1= x 2+ vt 2 or y2= y 1 y1= y 2 z2= z 1 z1= z 2 Recall v is constant, differentiation of above equations gives Galilean velocity Transformations: dx dx dx dx 2 =1 − v 1 =2 − v dt 2 dt 1 dt 1 dt 2 dy dy dy dy 2 = 1 1 = 2 dt dt dt dt 2 1 1 2 dz dz dz dz 2 = 1 1 = 2 and dt2 dt 1 dt 1 dt 2 or v x1= v x 2 + v v x2 =v x1 − v and Similarly, Galilean acceleration Transformations: a2= a 1 Physics before Relativity Classical physics was developed between about 1650 and 1900 based on: * Idealized mechanical models that can be subjected to mathematical analysis and tested against observation. -
26-2 Spacetime and the Spacetime Interval We Usually Think of Time and Space As Being Quite Different from One Another
Answer to Essential Question 26.1: (a) The obvious answer is that you are at rest. However, the question really only makes sense when we ask what the speed is measured with respect to. Typically, we measure our speed with respect to the Earth’s surface. If you answer this question while traveling on a plane, for instance, you might say that your speed is 500 km/h. Even then, however, you would be justified in saying that your speed is zero, because you are probably at rest with respect to the plane. (b) Your speed with respect to a point on the Earth’s axis depends on your latitude. At the latitude of New York City (40.8° north) , for instance, you travel in a circular path of radius equal to the radius of the Earth (6380 km) multiplied by the cosine of the latitude, which is 4830 km. You travel once around this circle in 24 hours, for a speed of 350 m/s (at a latitude of 40.8° north, at least). (c) The radius of the Earth’s orbit is 150 million km. The Earth travels once around this orbit in a year, corresponding to an orbital speed of 3 ! 104 m/s. This sounds like a high speed, but it is too small to see an appreciable effect from relativity. 26-2 Spacetime and the Spacetime Interval We usually think of time and space as being quite different from one another. In relativity, however, we link time and space by giving them the same units, drawing what are called spacetime diagrams, and plotting trajectories of objects through spacetime. -
Thermodynamics of Spacetime: the Einstein Equation of State
gr-qc/9504004 UMDGR-95-114 Thermodynamics of Spacetime: The Einstein Equation of State Ted Jacobson Department of Physics, University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742-4111, USA [email protected] Abstract The Einstein equation is derived from the proportionality of entropy and horizon area together with the fundamental relation δQ = T dS connecting heat, entropy, and temperature. The key idea is to demand that this relation hold for all the local Rindler causal horizons through each spacetime point, with δQ and T interpreted as the energy flux and Unruh temperature seen by an accelerated observer just inside the horizon. This requires that gravitational lensing by matter energy distorts the causal structure of spacetime in just such a way that the Einstein equation holds. Viewed in this way, the Einstein equation is an equation of state. This perspective suggests that it may be no more appropriate to canonically quantize the Einstein equation than it would be to quantize the wave equation for sound in air. arXiv:gr-qc/9504004v2 6 Jun 1995 The four laws of black hole mechanics, which are analogous to those of thermodynamics, were originally derived from the classical Einstein equation[1]. With the discovery of the quantum Hawking radiation[2], it became clear that the analogy is in fact an identity. How did classical General Relativity know that horizon area would turn out to be a form of entropy, and that surface gravity is a temperature? In this letter I will answer that question by turning the logic around and deriving the Einstein equation from the propor- tionality of entropy and horizon area together with the fundamental relation δQ = T dS connecting heat Q, entropy S, and temperature T . -
Chapter 5 the Relativistic Point Particle
Chapter 5 The Relativistic Point Particle To formulate the dynamics of a system we can write either the equations of motion, or alternatively, an action. In the case of the relativistic point par- ticle, it is rather easy to write the equations of motion. But the action is so physical and geometrical that it is worth pursuing in its own right. More importantly, while it is difficult to guess the equations of motion for the rela- tivistic string, the action is a natural generalization of the relativistic particle action that we will study in this chapter. We conclude with a discussion of the charged relativistic particle. 5.1 Action for a relativistic point particle How can we find the action S that governs the dynamics of a free relativis- tic particle? To get started we first think about units. The action is the Lagrangian integrated over time, so the units of action are just the units of the Lagrangian multiplied by the units of time. The Lagrangian has units of energy, so the units of action are L2 ML2 [S]=M T = . (5.1.1) T 2 T Recall that the action Snr for a free non-relativistic particle is given by the time integral of the kinetic energy: 1 dx S = mv2(t) dt , v2 ≡ v · v, v = . (5.1.2) nr 2 dt 105 106 CHAPTER 5. THE RELATIVISTIC POINT PARTICLE The equation of motion following by Hamilton’s principle is dv =0. (5.1.3) dt The free particle moves with constant velocity and that is the end of the story. -
The Experimental Verdict on Spacetime from Gravity Probe B
The Experimental Verdict on Spacetime from Gravity Probe B James Overduin Abstract Concepts of space and time have been closely connected with matter since the time of the ancient Greeks. The history of these ideas is briefly reviewed, focusing on the debate between “absolute” and “relational” views of space and time and their influence on Einstein’s theory of general relativity, as formulated in the language of four-dimensional spacetime by Minkowski in 1908. After a brief detour through Minkowski’s modern-day legacy in higher dimensions, an overview is given of the current experimental status of general relativity. Gravity Probe B is the first test of this theory to focus on spin, and the first to produce direct and unambiguous detections of the geodetic effect (warped spacetime tugs on a spin- ning gyroscope) and the frame-dragging effect (the spinning earth pulls spacetime around with it). These effects have important implications for astrophysics, cosmol- ogy and the origin of inertia. Philosophically, they might also be viewed as tests of the propositions that spacetime acts on matter (geodetic effect) and that matter acts back on spacetime (frame-dragging effect). 1 Space and Time Before Minkowski The Stoic philosopher Zeno of Elea, author of Zeno’s paradoxes (c. 490-430 BCE), is said to have held that space and time were unreal since they could neither act nor be acted upon by matter [1]. This is perhaps the earliest version of the relational view of space and time, a view whose philosophical fortunes have waxed and waned with the centuries, but which has exercised enormous influence on physics. -
APPARENT SIMULTANEITY Hanoch Ben-Yami
APPARENT SIMULTANEITY Hanoch Ben-Yami ABSTRACT I develop Special Relativity with backward-light-cone simultaneity, which I call, for reasons made clear in the paper, ‘Apparent Simultaneity’. In the first section I show some advantages of this approach. I then develop the kinematics in the second section. In the third section I apply the approach to the Twins Paradox: I show how it removes the paradox, and I explain why the paradox was a result of an artificial symmetry introduced to the description of the process by Einstein’s simultaneity definition. In the fourth section I discuss some aspects of dynamics. I conclude, in a fifth section, with a discussion of the nature of light, according to which transmission of light energy is a form of action at a distance. 1 Considerations Supporting Backward-Light-Cone Simultaneity ..........................1 1.1 Temporal order...............................................................................................2 1.2 The meaning of coordinates...........................................................................3 1.3 Dependence of simultaneity on location and relative motion........................4 1.4 Appearance as Reality....................................................................................5 1.5 The Time Lag Argument ...............................................................................6 1.6 The speed of light as the greatest possible speed...........................................8 1.7 More on the Apparent Simultaneity approach ...............................................9 -
Einstein's Boxes
Einstein’s Boxes Travis Norsen∗ Marlboro College, Marlboro, Vermont 05344 (Dated: February 1, 2008) At the 1927 Solvay conference, Albert Einstein presented a thought experiment intended to demon- strate the incompleteness of the quantum mechanical description of reality. In the following years, the experiment was modified by Einstein, de Broglie, and several other commentators into a simple scenario involving the splitting in half of the wave function of a single particle in a box. This paper collects together several formulations of this thought experiment from the literature, analyzes and assesses it from the point of view of the Einstein-Bohr debates, the EPR dilemma, and Bell’s the- orem, and argues for “Einstein’s Boxes” taking its rightful place alongside similar but historically better known quantum mechanical thought experiments such as EPR and Schr¨odinger’s Cat. I. INTRODUCTION to Copenhagen such as Bohm’s non-local hidden variable theory. Because of its remarkable simplicity, the Einstein Boxes thought experiment also is well-suited as an intro- It is well known that several of quantum theory’s duction to these topics for students and other interested founders were dissatisfied with the theory as interpreted non-experts. by Niels Bohr and other members of the Copenhagen school. Before about 1928, for example, Louis de Broglie The paper is organized as follows. In Sec. II we intro- duce Einstein’s Boxes by quoting a detailed description advocated what is now called a hidden variable theory: a pilot-wave version of quantum mechanics in which parti- due to de Broglie. We compare it to the EPR argument and discuss how it fares in eluding Bohr’s rebuttal of cles follow continuous trajectories, guided by a quantum wave.1 David Bohm’s2 rediscovery and completion of the EPR. -
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 -
Newton's First Law of Motion the Principle of Relativity
MATHEMATICS 7302 (Analytical Dynamics) YEAR 2017–2018, TERM 2 HANDOUT #1: NEWTON’S FIRST LAW AND THE PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY Newton’s First Law of Motion Our experience seems to teach us that the “natural” state of all objects is at rest (i.e. zero velocity), and that objects move (i.e. have a nonzero velocity) only when forces are being exerted on them. Aristotle (384 BCE – 322 BCE) thought so, and many (but not all) philosophers and scientists agreed with him for nearly two thousand years. It was Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) who first realized, through a combination of experi- mentation and theoretical reflection, that our everyday belief is utterly wrong: it is an illusion caused by the fact that we live in a world dominated by friction. By using lubricants to re- duce friction to smaller and smaller values, Galileo showed experimentally that objects tend to maintain nearly their initial velocity — whatever that velocity may be — for longer and longer times. He then guessed that, in the idealized situation in which friction is completely eliminated, an object would move forever at whatever velocity it initially had. Thus, an object initially at rest would stay at rest, but an object initially moving at 100 m/s east (for example) would continue moving forever at 100 m/s east. In other words, Galileo guessed: An isolated object (i.e. one subject to no forces from other objects) moves at constant velocity, i.e. in a straight line at constant speed. Any constant velocity is as good as any other. This principle was later incorporated in the physical theory of Isaac Newton (1642–1727); it is nowadays known as Newton’s first law of motion. -
Class 4: Space-Time Diagrams
Class 4: Space-time Diagrams In this class we will explore how space-time diagrams may be used to visualize events and causality in relativity Class 4: Space-time Diagrams At the end of this session you should be able to … • … create a space-time diagram showing events and world lines in a given reference frame • … determine geometrically which events are causally connected, via the concept of the light cone • … understand that events separated by a constant space-time interval from the origin map out a hyperbola in space-time • … use space-time diagrams to relate observations in different inertial frames, via tilted co-ordinate systems What is a space-time diagram? • A space-time diagram is a graph showing the position of objects (events) in a reference frame, as a function of time • Conventionally, space (�) is represented in the horizontal direction, and time (�) runs upwards �� Here is an event This is the path of a light ray travelling in the �- direction (i.e., � = ��), We have scaled time by a which makes an angle of factor of �, so it has the 45° with the axis same dimensions as space What would be the � path of an object moving at speed � < �? What is a space-time diagram? • The path of an object (or light ray) moving through a space- time diagram is called a world line of that object, and may be thought of as a chain of many events • Note that a world line in a space-time diagram may not be the same shape as the path of an object through space �� Rocket ship accelerating in �-direction (path in Rocket ship accelerating in �- -
EPR, Time, Irreversibility and Causality
EPR, time, irreversibility and causality Umberto Lucia 1;a & Giulia Grisolia 1;b 1 Dipartimento Energia \Galileo Ferraris", Politecnico di Torino Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy a [email protected] b [email protected] Abstract Causality is the relationship between causes and effects. Following Relativity, any cause of an event must always be in the past light cone of the event itself, but causes and effects must always be related to some interactions. In this paper, causality is developed as a conse- quence of the analysis of the Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen paradox. Causality is interpreted as the result of the time generation, due to irreversible interactions of real systems among them. Time results as a consequence of irreversibility, so any state function of a system in its space cone, when affected by an interaction with an observer, moves into a light cone or within it, with the consequence that any cause must precede its effect in a common light cone. Keyword: EPR paradox; Irreversibility; Quantum Physics; Quan- tum thermodynamics; Time. 1 Introduction The problem of the link between entropy and time has a long story and many viewpoints. In relation to irreversibility, Franklin [1] analysed some processes, in their steady states, evaluating their entropy variation, and he highlighted that they are related only to energy transformations. Thermodynamics is the physical science which develops the study of the energy transformations , allowing the scientists and engineers to ob- tain fundamental results [2{4] in physics, chemistry, biophysics, engineering and information theory. During the development of this science, entropy 1 has generally been recognized as one of the most important thermodynamic quantities due to its interdisciplinary applications [5{8].