Principles Of Special Relativity Research Articles

On the Mass of (Gravitational) Potential Energy

In classical mechanics, when a body freely moves or is externally forced to move in a conservative force field, such as a planet moving away from a star or a weight lifted from the floor, its kinetic energy or the work done on it is converted and stored as potential energy. The concept of potential energy was developed to uphold the fundamental principle of conservation of energy. According to the widely accepted interpretation of mass-energy equivalence, every form of energy has mass. This leads to the natural questions: does potential energy have mass? And if so, where is that mass located? We will start by briefly reviewing the issue through an examination of some key literature on the topic. The current consensus is that potential energy gets stored in the field energy of the interacting system. As a result of mass-energy equivalence, the equivalent mass is distributed throughout the entire space in some manner. However, this presents some difficulties. Here, like some other scholars in the past, we show that it contradicts the principles of special relativity and argue that potential energy does increase the mass of the bodies composing the system. We present an accessible thought experiment that heuristically corroborates that view specifically for the gravitational potential energy. We finally speculate on how that mass increase is distributed among the interacting bodies.

A Very Fast Reasoning in Favor of the Poincare Group, or of Minkowskian Rather than Euclidean Line Elements

1. We present a very fast derivation of Minkowski’s line element which is the geometric foundation not only of the special Lorentz transformation but of the whole Poincar’e group aka inhomogeneous Lorentz group [1]. The Euclidean line element is excluded using the wave equation and Einstein’s special principle of relativity (Einstein’s first postulate) [2]. For doing so, it is not necessary, 1. to assume the speed of light to be independent of the motion of the observer (Einstein’s second postulate [2], 2. to synchronize watches, 3. to interrelate the coordinate systems of the inertial frames involved; their relative velocity (and hence reciprocity [3]) even plays not any role in the derivation. 4. to make any assumption about the properties of the underlying coordinate transformation such as linearity, uniqueness etc

On the connection between Lenz’s law and relativity

In this work, we demonstrate explicitly the unified nature of electric and magnetic fields, from the principles of special relativity and Lorentz transformations of the electromagnetic field tensor. Using an operational approach we construct the tensor and its corresponding transformation law, based on the principle of relativity. Our work helps to elucidate concepts of advanced courses on electromagnetism for primary-level learners and shows an alternative path to derive Lenz’s law based on the connection between relativity arguments and a standard electromagnetism experiment.

Noninertial Proper Motions of the Minkowski Metric, the Sagnac Effect, and the Twin Paradox

The Sagnac effect and related twin paradox with a rotating disc are analyzed. It may seem that the special theory of relativity gives an easy and exhaustive treatment here. However, such consideration is deceptive since the principles of special relativity are originally established only for the inertial frames of reference, whereas the Sagnac experiment and the twin paradox exist in a noninertial one. We introduce an additional group of motions related to the rotation with uniform angular speed and show that these transformations leave the Minkowski metric invariant. Thus, we can give a firm mathematical ground to a usual easy consideration of the Sagnac effect. It should be noted that the presented result is true for a special case of motions; general coordinate transformations into accelerating frames of reference do not preserve the metric.

A Re-understanding of the Zero Result of the Michelson-Morley Experiment

As well-known that in order to explain the zero result of the Michelson-Morley experiments (M-M experiments), Lorentz proposed the Lorentz formula of coordinate transformation and led to the birth of Einstein's special relativity. The authors carefully re-examine the M-M experiment and find a serious problem. The premise of the M-M experimental calculations was that the light source was fixed on the absolutely stationary reference frame of the universe (or the ether stationary reference frame). However, in the actual experiments, the light source was fixed on the earth motion reference frame, moving and rotating with the interferometers, which lead to the invalid calculation result of the M-M experiment. In this paper, the correct calculation method is used to prove that the zero result of the M-M experiment can be well explained by using the Galilean relativity principle and the Galilean velocity addition rule. Therefore, the most important experimental foundation of special relativity does not exist. The Lorentz coordinate transformation formulas become unnecessary, and the principles of special relativity and the invariant speed of light are unnecessary too. The experimental tests of special relativity are also discussed briefly. It points out that these experiments are either wrong or have other explanations, and the explanations of special relativity are not unique ones. Physics should give up the Lorentz transformation formula and the Einstein's special relativity completely, introduce the cosmic absolute stationary reference frame, and establish the kinetic theory based on the mass-velocity formula which should be considered as an empirical formula, to solve the fundamental problems in astrophysics and cosmology thoroughly.

Alternative Representation of Space and Time: Geometric Solution of Problems of Relativity Theory

Relevance. The relevance of the stated subject of this scientific research is due to the importance of theoretical issues of alternative representation of the categories of space and time from the point of view of developing geometric solutions to problems of relativity theory, which are important in solving numerous practical issues encountered in various fields of modern science and technology.Purpose. The purpose of this research work is to form an alternative view of the categories of space and time, which are of significant practical importance for creating geometric solutions to problems that reflect certain principles of the theory of relativity.Methods. The basis of the methodological approach to the construction of research works in this scientific study was a combination of a systematic analysis of the features of compiling an alternative representation of the categories of space and time with an analytical study of the features of constructing geometric solutions to problems that reflect various problematic aspects of the general theory of relativity.Results. The results of this research work reflect the entire course of scientific research, and indicate the absence of contradictions in the very fact of the existence of alternative space-time models, as not meeting the fundamental principles of the special theory of relativity.Conclusions. The results and conclusions of this research have significant practical significance from the point of view of forming new ideas about the provisions of the special theory of relativity and the possibilities of practical use of geometric models to solve complex problems of this theory, through the use of corrected ideas about the real properties of space and time, and are also of significant importance for employees of design bureaus engaged in the development of the latest samples of high-tech equipment and using the principles of special relativity in their calculations

II. Your Present Moment in Spacetime

This essay extends the argument begun in "Why Quantum Mechanics Makes Sense," exploring the conditions under which a physical world can define and communicate information. I argue that like the structure of quantum physics, the principles of Special and General Relativity can be understood as reflecting the requirements of a universe in which things are observable and measurable. I interpret the peculiar hyperbolic structure of spacetime not as the static, four-dimensional geometry of an unobservable "block universe", but as the background metric of an evolving web of communicated information that we, along with all our measuring instruments and recording devices, actually experience in our local "here and now." Our relativistic universe is conceived as a parallel distributed processing system, in which a common objective reality is constantly being woven out of many kinds of facts determined separately in countless local measurement-contexts.

Book Review: Quantum Field Theory

The textbook presents a summary about Quantum Field Theory (QFT) with mathematical details. A wide range of main concepts and additional topics in quantum field theory is displayed in the academic textbook to scientists. Field theory describes and represents phenomena physically and mathematically through forces acting and spreading as field in space. Quantum field theory is constructed and introduced from the basic principles of special relativity, mode decomposition, the Kaellen Lehmann Spectral Representation, et al. and perturbation theory.

Relativistic dynamics for the expanding universe

An analysis according to the principles of special and general relativity and less restrictive Newtonian gravity proves the dynamic effects to be substantial for the expanding universe. With the resulting dynamic critical density, typically greater than the standard critical density, I am able to identify the hypothetical cold dark matter (CDM) as being an artifact of the Friedmann‐Robertson‐Walker equation that is insufficient to describe the dynamic effects. With the included special-relativistic dynamic effects, I can now predict the cosmic data with two parameters, matter and the cosmological constant, without the CDM at least on a large scale.

Perspectives of double beta and dark matter search as windows to new physics

Nuclear double beta decay provides an extraordinarily broad potential to search for beyond Standard Model physics, probing already now the TeV scale, on which new physics should manifest itself. These possibilities are reviewed here. First, the results of present generation experiments are presented. The most sensitive one of them - the Heidelberg-Moscow experiment in the Gran Sasso - probes the electron mass now in the sub eV region and has reached recently a limit of ~ 0.1 eV. This limit has striking influence on presently discussed neutrino mass scenarios. Basing to a large extent on the theoretical work of the Heidelberg Double Beta Group in the last two years, results are obtained also for SUSY models (R-parity breaking, sneutrino mass), leptoquarks (leptoquark-Higgs coupling), compositeness, right-handed W boson mass, test of special relativity and equivalence principle in the neutrino sector and others. These results are comfortably competitive to corresponding results from high-energy accelerators like TEVATRON, HERA, etc. One of the enriched 7Ge detectors also yields the most stringent limits for cold dark matter (WIMPs) to date by using raw data. Second, future perspectives of ßß research are discussed. A new Heidelberg experimental proposal (GENIUS) will allow to increase the sensitivity for Majorana neutrino masses from the present level of at best 0.1 eV down to 0.01 or even 0.001 eV. Its physical potential would be a breakthrough into the multi-TeV range for many beyond standard models. Its sensitivity for neutrino oscillation parameters would be larger than of all present terrestrial neutrino oscillation experiments and of those planned for the future. It could probe directly the large angle, and for almost degenerate neutrino mass scenarios even the small angle solution of the solar neutrino problem. It would further, already in a first step using only 100 kg of natural Ge detectors, cover almost the full MSSM parameter space for prediction of neutralinos as cold dark matter, making the experiment competitive to LHC in the search for supersymmetry. Finally GENIUS could be used as the first real time detector of solar pp neutrinos.

Transformation of intermediate times in the decays of moving unstable quantum systems via the exponential modes

The transformation of canonical decay laws of moving unstable quantum systems is derived from the basic principles of quantum theory and special relativity by approximating, over intermediate times, the decay laws at rest with superpositions of exponential modes via the Prony analysis. The survival probability , which is detected in the laboratory reference frame where the unstable system moves with constant linear momentum p , is represented by the transformed form of the survival probability at rest . The transformation of the intermediate times, which is induced by the change of reference frame, is obtained by evaluating the function . Under determined conditions, this function grows linearly and the survival probability transforms, approximately, according to a scaling law over an estimated time window. The relativistic dilation of times holds, approximately, over the time window if the mass of resonance of the mass distribution density is considered to be the effective mass at rest of the moving unstable quantum system.

A potential justifying superconductivity and pseudogap formation in high-Tc superconductors

Copper and Iron based high temperature superconductors exhibit d-wave type superconducting gap and order parameter and posses a universal phase diagram. Here a potential is introduced that accounts for high temperature superconductivity, justifies d-wave symmetric behavior, and successfully explains phase diagram’s salient features. This potential is stipulated by principles of special relativity and arises from the difference between the electric potential of moving electrons and the potential of stationary nuclei. In quasi-two-dimensional materials this difference results in an uncompensated angular dependent attraction force in preferred directions of motion and a repulsion force in the perpendicular directions. The attraction force causes d-wave angular dependent superconducting gap and order parameter at high temperatures for d or p orbitals, which are the orbitals involved in Copper and Iron based superconductors. The repulsion force justifies the existence of angular dependent pseudogap and since the attraction and repulsions forces confine electrons to two directions of motion the number of allowed momentum states are reduced resulting in anti-ferromagnetic Mott-insulator behavior. The combination of the attraction and repulsion forces is shown to create charge density waves in these quasi-two-dimensional materials. This potential is able to justify the main features of the universal phase diagram self-consistently.

Electronic Processes in Solid State: Dirac Framework

Abstract The present paper proposes canonical Dirac framework adapted for application to the electronic processes in solid state. The concern is a spatially periodic structure of atoms distinguished by birth and annihilation of particle states excited due to interaction with the electromagnetic field. This implies replacing the conventional energy-momentum relation specific of the canonical Dirac framework and permissible for particle physics by a case specific relation available for the solid state. The advancement is a unified and consistent mathematical framework incorporating the Hilbert space, the quantum field, and the special relativity. Essential details of the birth and annihilation of the particle states are given by an illustrative two-band model obeying basic laws of quantum mechanics, special relativity, and symmetry principles maintained from the canonical Dirac framework as a desirable property and as a prerogative for the study of the particle coupling and correlation.

Relativistic Doppler-boosted \u03b3-rays in High Fields

The relativistic Doppler effect is one of the most famous implications of the principles of special relativity and is intrinsic to moving radiation sources, relativistic optics and many astrophysical phenomena. It occurs in the case of a plasma sail accelerated to relativistic velocities by an external driver, such as an ultra-intense laser pulse. Here we show that the relativistic Doppler effect on the high energy synchrotron photon emission (~10 MeV), strongly depends on two intrinsic properties of the plasma (charge state and ion mass) and the transverse extent of the driver. When the moving plasma becomes relativistically transparent to the driver, we show that the γ-ray emission is Doppler-boosted and the angular emission decreases; optimal for the highest charge-to-mass ratio ion species (i.e. a hydrogen plasma). This provides new fundamental insight into the generation of γ-rays in extreme conditions and informs related experiments using multi-petawatt laser facilities.

Relativistic Astronomy

Abstract The “Breakthrough Starshot” aims at sending near-speed-of-light cameras to nearby stellar systems in the future. Due to the relativistic effects, a transrelativistic camera naturally serves as a spectrograph, a lens, and a wide-field camera. We demonstrate this through a simulation of the optical-band image of the nearby galaxy M51 in the rest frame of the transrelativistic camera. We suggest that observing celestial objects using a transrelativistic camera may allow one to study the astronomical objects in a special way, and to perform unique tests on the principles of special relativity. We outline several examples that suggest transrelativistic cameras may make important contributions to astrophysics and suggest that the Breakthrough Starshot cameras may be launched in any direction to serve as a unique astronomical observatory.

Retraction: Conservative relativity principle and energy-momentum conservation in a superimposed gravitational and electric field

We address to the conservative relativity principle (CRP), which we recently advanced (A.L. Kholmetskii, et al. Eur. Phys. J. Plus 129 (2014) 102). This principle asserts the impossibility to distinguish the state of rest and the state of motion of a system moving at constant velocity, if no work is done to the system in question during its motion; such a constraint is thus closely linked to the energy-momentum conservation law. Therefore, the conservative relativity principle, along with the Einstein special relativity principle (which obviously represents the particular manifestation of CRP in the case of empty space), and the general relativity principle can be considered as the cornerstones of modern physics. At the same time, some principal implications of CRP – e.g. the dependence of the proper time of a charged particle on the electric potential at its location, happens to be firmly at odds with the established structure of modern physics and, in fact, is not accepted by the wide scientific communi...

Radiation damping of a polarizable particle

A polarizable body moving in an external electromagnetic field will slow down. This effect is referred to as radiation damping and is analogous to Doppler cooling in atomic physics. Using the principles of special relativity we derive an expression for the radiation damping force and find that it solely depends on the scattered power. The cooling of the particle's center-of-mass motion is balanced by heating due to radiation pressure shot noise, giving rise to an equilibrium that depends on the ratio of the field's frequency and the particle's mass. While damping is of relativistic nature heating has it's roots in quantum mechanics.

THREE DIFFERENT FORMALISATIONS OF EINSTEIN’S RELATIVITY PRINCIPLE

AbstractWe present three natural but distinct formalisations of Einstein’s special principle of relativity, and demonstrate the relationships between them. In particular, we prove that they are logically distinct, but that they can be made equivalent by introducing a small number of additional, intuitively acceptable axioms.

GRAVITY CAN BE OBSERVED IN THE ABSENCE OF CURVED SPACETIME, THUS CURVED SPACETIME IS NOT RESPONCIBLE FOR GRAVITY

The principle postulate of general relativity appears to be that curved space or curved spacetime is gravitational, in that mass curves the spacetime around it, and that this curved spacetime acts on mass in a manner we call gravity. Here, I use the theory of special relativity to show that curved spacetime can be non-gravitational, by showing that curve-linear space or curved spacetime can be observed without exerting a gravitational force on mass to induce motion- as well as showing gravity can be observed without spacetime curvature. This is done using the principles of special relativity in accordance with Einstein to satisfy the reader, using a gravitational equivalence model. Curved spacetime may appear to affect the apparent relative position and dimensions of a mass, as well as the relative time experienced by a mass, but it does not exert gravitational force (gravity) on mass. Thus, this paper explains why there appears to be more gravity in the universe than mass to account for it, because gravity is not the resultant of the curvature of spacetime on mass, thus the “dark matter” and “dark energy” we are looking for to explain this excess gravity doesn’t exist.

Commonly asked questions in physics

Classical Mechanics What Is Physics? What Is the SI System of Units? What Are Velocity and Acceleration? What Is a Force? What Are Work and Energy? What Is Momentum Conservation? What Is Simple Harmonic Motion? What Are Torque and Angular Momentum? What Is Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation? Can Classical Mechanics Explain Everything? Electromagnetism and Electronics What Are Electric Charges, and How Do They Affect Each Other? What Is an Electric Field? What Is Electric Potential? What Is a Capacitor? What Are Electric Current and Resistance? What Are Semiconductors? What Are Superconductors? What Are Magnetic Dipoles and Magnetic Fields? What Is Electromagnetism? What Are Direct Current and Alternating Current? How Do Electric Motors Work? What Is an Electromagnetic Wave? Solids and Fluids What Are the States of Matter? What Is a Fluid? What Are Transverse and Longitudinal Waves? How Is Sound Generated? How Are Music and Musical Harmonies Made? What Is the Doppler Effect? What Makes a Sonic Boom? Quantum Mechanics What Is Quantization? What Is WaveParticle Duality? What Is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle? What Does Quantum Mechanics Tell Us about Hydrogen Atoms? What Is Quantum Tunneling? What Is a Quantum Computer? What Are Some Other Applications of Quantum Mechanics? Light and Optics What Is Light? What Is the Law of Reflection? What Is Refraction? How Do Lenses Work? What Are Some Common Refractive Vision Disorders, and How Are They Corrected with Lenses? How Do Microscopes Work? How Do Telescopes Work? How Does Interference Reveal Light's Wave Properties? What Is Diffraction? What Is Polarization, and Why Is It Useful? Why Is the Sky Blue? How Do Lasers Work, and What Makes Them Different from Other Light Sources? What Is a Light-Emitting Diode? What Is a Solar (Photovoltaic) Cell? Thermodynamics What Is Temperature? What Is the Kinetic Theory of Gases? What Is Thermal Expansion? What Are the Units for Thermal Energy, Heat, and Food Energy? What Are Heat Capacity and Specific Heat? What Are Phase Changes? What Is the First Law of Thermodynamics? What Is the Second Law of Thermodynamics? What Is a Heat Engine? What Are Quantum Statistics? How Cold Can You Get? Atoms and Nuclei Atoms and ElementsWhat Are They? What Is the RutherfordBohr Model of the Atom? What Are Atomic Orbitals and Shells? How Are X-Rays Produced? What Are the Basic Properties of Nuclei? What Is the Strong (Nuclear) Force? How Are Nuclei Bound by the Nuclear Force? What Is Nuclear Binding Energy? What Are the Benefits and Dangers of Radioactive Nuclei? What Is Fission? What Is Fusion? Fundamental Particles and Forces What Are Fundamental and Composite Particles? What Are the Historical Roots of the Search for Fundamental Particles? What Is Antimatter? What Is the Particle Zoo? How Do Particles Mediate Forces? What Are Quarks? What Are Leptons? What Is the Weak Force? What Is a Feynman Diagram? What Conservation Laws Are Associated with Hadrons and Leptons? What Is the Higgs Boson? What Is Unification? Relativity What's the Difference between Special Relativity and General Relativity? How Was Special Relativity Developed? What Are the Two Principles (or Postulates) of Special Relativity? How Are Time and Distance Measurements Affected in Relativity? What Is Spacetime? How Are Velocity Measurements Affected by High Speeds? What Is the Doppler Effect? What Is Relativistic Energy? How Is Relativity Connected to Electromagnetism? What Is the Principle of Equivalence? How Does General Relativity Describe Gravity? What Are Some Consequences of General Relativity? What Is a Black Hole? What Are Gravitational Waves? How Do We Use Relativity? So Is Everything Really Relative? Astrophysics and Cosmology What Are Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Cosmology? How Was Our Solar System Formed? What Are the Orbits of the Planets? What Other Objects Are in the Solar System? What Are Stars? What Is a Supernova? What Are Galaxies? How Has the Universe Evolved in Time? What Are Dark Matter and Dark Energy? Where Do We Go from Here? Index Further Readings appear at the end of each chapter.