Related papers: Relativity for Retired Engineers
Points of conflict between the principles of general relativity and quantum theory are highlighted. I argue that the current language of QFT is inadequete to deal with gravity and review attempts to identify some of the features which are…
Double Special Relativity theories are the relativistic theories in which the transformations between inertial observers are characterized by two observer-independent scales of the light speed and the Planck length. We study two main…
The theory of measurement is employed to elucidate the physical basis of general relativity. For measurements involving phenomena with intrinsic length or time scales, such scales must in general be negligible compared to the (translational…
This work analyzes the difficulties in learning and teaching Einstein's theory of special relativity. An extensive bibliographic review has been performed, considering articles published in the most relevant journals on science education,…
General relativity is highly successful in explaining a wide range of gravitational phenomena including the gravitational waves emitted by binary systems and the shadows cast by supermassive black holes. From a modern perspective the theory…
The aim of the paper is to develop a proper mathematical formalism which can help to clarify the necessary conceptual plugins to the special principle of relativity and leads to a deeper understanding of the principle in its widest…
Most of the approaches to the construction of a theory of quantum gravity share some principles which do not have specific experimental support up to date. Two of these principles are relevant for our discussion: (i) the gravitational field…
I discuss the ontological assumptions and implications of General Relativity. I maintain that General Relativity is a theory about gravitational fields, not about space-time. The latter is a more basic ontological category, that emerges…
Computer simulations are enabling researchers to investigate systems which are extremely difficult to handle analytically. In the particular case of General Relativity, numerical models have proved extremely valuable for investigations of…
The combination of quantum theory and special relativity leads to structures that differ in several respects from non-relativistic quantum mechanics of particles. These differences are quite familiar to practitioners of Algebraic Quantum…
In this paper a mathematically precise global (i.e. not the usual local) approach is presented to the variational principles of general relativistic classical field theories. Problems of the classic (usual) approaches are also discussed in…
The aim of this chapter is to present an introduction and also an overview of some of the most relevant results concerning positivity energy theorems in General Relativity. These theorems provide the answer to a long standing problem that…
We summarize the main ideas of General Relativity and Lorentzian geometry, leading to a proof of the simplest of the celebrated Hawking-Penrose singularity theorems. The reader is assumed to be familiar with Riemannian geometry and point…
The theory of Space rotations is introduced. The relativity principle is generalized to satisfy to reference frames rotating in 3D space. It is shown that the most postulates and limitations of quantum theories are consequences of this…
For a newcomer, paraconsistent logics can be difficult to grasp. Even experts in logic can find the concept of paraconsistency to be suspicious or misguided, if not actually wrong. The problem is that although they usually have much in…
General Relativity (GR) revolutionized the way we thought about gravity. After briefly describing the key successes of GR and its impact, I will discuss the major conceptual challenges it faces today. I conclude by outlining the prospective…
The Special Theory of Relativity and the Theory of the Electron have had an interesting history together. Originally the electron was studied in a non relativistic context and this opened up the interesting possibility that lead to the…
The strong proper time dilation and radial contraction in the gravitational field of compact sources leads to a frozen state of matter. It is shown that the falling particles and photons can not cross the gravitational radius due to the…
Some reasons are given to suggest that the interpretation of the Lorentz' transformations as if they referred to coordinates instead of to intervals could be incorrect. Besides, the usual form of such transformations, by using variables…
Interpretation is not the only way to explain a theory's success, form and features, and nor is it the only way to solve problems we see with a theory. This can also be done by giving a reductive explanation of the theory, by reference to a…