English

Inertial Transformations and the Nonexistence of Tachyons for Spacetime Dimension Greater than Two

High Energy Physics - Theory 2024-10-30 v1

Abstract

We consider real linear transformations between two inertial frames with constant relative speed vv in a dd-dimensional spacetime where light moves with constant speed c=1c=1 (for some chosen units) in all frames. For d=2d=2 we show that the standard relative velocity formula holds and that any associated anisotropic conformal factor is multiplicative under composition of inertial transformations for v1|v|\neq 1. Assuming that the inertial transformation matrix is continuous in a neighbourhood of v=0v=0 and differentiable at v=0v=0, we determine the conformal factor for all v1|v|\neq 1. For an isotropic spacetime, the general solution reduces to the standard d=2d=2 Lorentz transformation for v<1|v|<1 or to a Tachyonic transformation for v>1|v|>1, first described by Parker in 1969. For d>2d>2 we show that no Tachyonic-like inertial transformations exist which are compatible with constant light speed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2410.22025,
  title  = {Inertial Transformations and the Nonexistence of Tachyons for Spacetime Dimension Greater than Two},
  author = {David Acton and Owen Doyle and Michael P. Tuite},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2410.22025},
  year   = {2024}
}