The introduction of Superluminal Lorentz transformations: A revisitation

Abstract

We revisit the introduction of the Superluminal Lorentz transformations which carry from “bradyonic” inertial frames to “tachyonic” inertial frames, i.e., which transform time-like objects into space-like objects, andvice versa. It has long been known that special relativity can be extended to Superluminal observers only by increasing the number of dimensions of the space-time or—which is in a sense equivalent—by releasing the reality condition (i.e., introducing also imaginary quantities). In the past we always adopted the latter procedure. Here we show the connection between that procedure and the former one. In other words, in order to clarify the physical meaning of the imaginary units entering the classical theory of tachyons, we have temporarily to call into play anauxiliary six-dimensional space-time M(3, 3); however, we are eventually able to go back to the four-dimensional Minkowski space-time. We revisit the introduction of the Superluminal Lorentz transformations also under another aspect. In fact, the generalized Lorentz transformations had been previously written down in a form suited only for the simple case of collinear boosts (e.g., they formed a group just for collinear boosts). We express now the Superluminal Lorentz transformations in a more general form, so that they constitute a group together with the ordinary—orthochronousand antichronous—Lorentz transformations, and reduce to the previous form in the case of collinear boosts. Our approach introduces either real or imaginary quantities, with exclusion of (generic) complex quantities. In the present context, a procedure—in two steps—for interpreting the imaginary quantities is put forth and discussed. In the case of a chain of generalized Lorentz transformations, such a procedure (when necessary) is to be applied only at the end of the chain. Finally, we justify why we call “transformations” also the Superluminal ones.