English

Relativistic spring-mass system

Classical Physics 2018-11-01 v1

Abstract

The harmonic oscillator plays a central role in physics describing the dynamics of a wide range of systems close to stable equilibrium points. The nonrelativistic one-dimensional spring-mass system is considered a prototype representative of it. It is usually assumed and galvanized in textbooks that the equation of motion of a relativistic harmonic oscillator is given by the same equation as the nonrelativistic one with the mass MM at the tip multiplied by the relativistic factor 1/(1v2/c2)1/21/(1 - v^2/c^2)^{1/2}. Although the solution of such an equation may depict some physical systems, it does not describe, in general, one-dimensional relativistic spring-mass oscillators under the influence of elastic forces. In recognition to the importance of such a system to physics, we fill a gap in the literature and offer a full relativistic treatment for a system composed of a spring attached to an inertial wall, holding a mass MM at the end.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1810.13365,
  title  = {Relativistic spring-mass system},
  author = {Rodrigo Andrade e Silva and Andre G. S. Landulfo and George E. A. Matsas and Daniel A. T. Vanzella},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1810.13365},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

16 pages, 5 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-23T04:59:17.701Z