A generalized Principle of Relativity

Abstract

The Theory of Relativity stands as a firm groundstone on which modern physics is founded. In this paper we bring to light an hitherto undisclosed richness of this theory, namely its admitting a consistent reformulation which is able to provide a unified scenario for all kinds of particles, be they lightlike or not. This result hinges on a generalized Principle of Relativity which is intrinsic to Einstein’s theory – a fact which went completely unnoticed before. The road leading to this generalization starts, in the very spirit of Relativity, from enhancing full equivalence between the four spacetime directions by requiring full equivalence between the motions along these four spacetime directions as well. So far, no measurable spatial velocity in the direction of the time axis has ever been defined, on the same footing of the usual velocities – the “space-velocities” – in the local three-space of a given observer. In this paper, we show how Relativity allows such a “time-velocity” to be defined in a very natural way, for any particle and in any reference frame. As a consequence of this natural definition, it also follows that the time- and space-velocity vectors sum up to define a spacelike “world-velocity” vector, the modulus of which – the world-velocity – turns out to be equal to the Maxwell’s constant c, irrespective of the observer who measures it. This measurable world-velocity (not to be confused with the space-velocities we are used to deal with) therefore represents the speed at which all kinds of particles move in spacetime, according to any observer. As remarked above, the unifying scenario thus emerging is intrinsic to Einstein’s Theory; it extends the role traditionally assigned to Maxwell’s constant c, and can therefore justly be referred to as “a generalized Principle of Relativity”.