Related papers: Relativity without light: A new proof of Ignatowsk…
The constancy of the speed of light (the maximum velocity of interaction) is the second postulate of Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity. Currently, there is no correct theoretical proof of this constancy in all inertial frames…
One hundred years ago, in 1908, Hermann Minkowski completed his proof that Maxwell's equations are covariant under Lorentz transformations. During this process, he introduced a four-dimensional space called the Minkowskian space. In 1949,…
Homogeneity of space and time, spatial isotropy, principle of relativity and the existence of a finite speed limit (or its variants) are commonly believed to be the only axioms required for developing the special theory of relativity…
The existence of a global time is often taken for granted but should instead be considered as a matter of investigation. By using the tools of global Lorentzian geometry I show that, under physically reasonable conditions, the impossibility…
We consider 3+1 rotationally symmetric Lorentzian Einstein spacetime manifolds with $\Lambda >0$ and reduce the equations to 2+1 Einstein equations coupled to `shifted' wave maps. Subsequently, we prove various (explicit) positive…
The space-time of modern physics is tailored on light. We rigorously construct the basic entities needed by kinematics: geometry of the physical space and time, using as tool electromagnetic waves, and particularly light-rays. After such a…
Following an early observation of Ignatowsky, we present a derivation of the transformation rules between inertial systems making no other assumptions than the existence of the latter, and show that generically these rules are characterized…
We submit the viewpoint that, perhaps, some of the controversies in gravitation occurred during this century are not due to insufficiencies of Einstein's field equations, but rather to insufficiencies in the mathematics used for their…
The Lorentzian Hamiltonian constraint is solved for isotropic loop quantum cosmology coupled to a massless scalar field. As in the Euclidean case, the discreteness of quantum geometry removes the classical singularity from the quantum…
As R.Feynman has shown to F. Dyson -- who published it then in 1990 under the name of "Feynman's proof of Maxwell's equations" -- the only interactions compatible with the canonical uncertainty relation (for scalar particles on flat $\R^3$)…
The Einstein postulates assert an invariance of the propagation speed of light in vacuum for any observer, and which amounts to a presumed absence of any preferred frame. The postulates appear to be directly linked to relativistic effects…
Relativistic length contraction is revisited and a simple but new thought experiment is proposed in which an apparent asymmetric situation is developed between two different inertial frames regarding detection of light that comes from a…
Minkowski space serves as a framework for the theoretical constructions that deal with manifestations of relativistic effects in physical phenomena. But neither Minkowski himself nor the subsequent developers of the relativity theory have…
We investigate the Pleba\'nski class of electrodynamical theories, i.e., theories of nonlinear vacuum electrodynamics that derive from a Lorentz-invariant Lagrangian (or Hamiltonian). In any such theory the light rays are the lightlike…
Flat space-time has not heretofore been thought a suitable locus in which to construct model universes because of the presumed necessity of incorporating gravitation in such models and because of the historical lack of a theory of…
This is an introduction to the by now fifteen years old research field of canonical quantum general relativity, sometimes called "loop quantum gravity". The term "modern" in the title refers to the fact that the quantum theory is based on…
Simply by assuming the first postulate of Special Relativity and by exploring Gedankenexperiments with electromagnetic forces, we suggest that there is a speed limit in the universe, which can be determined as a relation between vacuum…
The causal set program as well as the Wolfram physics project leave open the problem of how a graph that is a (3+1)-dimensional Minkowski-spacetime according to its simple geodesic distances, could be generated solely from simple…
We give a critical analysis of the conceptual foundations of special relativity. We formulate a simple operational criterion for distinguishing between noninertial and inertial frames which is introduced prior to geometry. We associate the…
The Lorentz transformation is derived without assuming the existence of Maxwell's equations, or that the speed of light is a constant, or even that light exists. This leads us logically to sonsider the existence of a primal field called…