Related papers: Two Examples of Circular Motion for Introductory C…
We study the role of acceleration in the twin paradox. From the coordinate transformation that relates an accelerated and an inertial observer we find that, from the point of view of the accelerated observer, the rate of the differential…
These lecture notes were prepared for a 25-hour course for advanced undergraduate students participating in Perimeter Institute's Undergraduate Summer Program. The lectures cover some of what is currently known about the possibility of…
Complex trajectories for Hamiltonians of the form H=p^n+V(x) are studied. For n=2 time-reversal symmetry prevents trajectories from crossing. However, for n>2 trajectories may indeed cross, and as a result, the complex trajectories for such…
Theory of Relativity (Special and General) is one of the most influential theories of the 20th century and has changed the way we view the world. It is part of many undergraduate curriculums and it is often suggested that it should be…
The conceptual definition and understanding of time, both quantitatively and qualitatively is of the utmost difficulty and importance. As time is incorporated into the proper structure of the fabric of spacetime, it is interesting to note…
Total precession (geodetic precession and frame dragging) depends on the velocity of each source of gravitation, which means that it depends on the choice of the coordinate system. We consider the latter as an anomaly specifically in the…
The Einstein equations allow solutions containing closed timelike curves. These have generated much puzzlement and suspicion that they could imply paradoxes. I show that puzzlement and paradoxes disappears if we discuss carefully the…
The relative motion of a classical relativistic spinning test particle is studied with respect to a nearby free test particle in the gravitational field of a rotating source. The effects of the spin-curvature coupling force are elucidated…
A priority of physics instruction is to help students make the connection between the formulae they think they are required to memorize and the real world in which they interact every day. If you ask students to describe a situation in real…
Orbits in triaxial ellipsoidal potentials precess about either the major or minor axis of the ellipsoid. In standard perturbation theory it can be shown that a circular orbit will precess about the minor axis if its angular momentum vector…
This work discusses the concept of roulette, the generated curves that occur when one curve rolls without slipping along another, tracing the path of a fixed point. The coin paradox and Aristotle's wheel paradox are used as pedagogical…
The shortening of bodies in the direction of motion, Lorentz contraction, follows from the solution of Maxwell's equations. Moving light clocks will tick slower than those at rest because the speed of light does not depend on a source of…
According to the theory of relativity, the relativistic Coulomb's force between an electron pair is composed of two parts, the main part is repulsive, while the rest part can be attractive in certain situations. Thus the relativistic…
These are the lecture notes for an introductory course on black holes and some aspects of their interaction with the classical and quantum world. The focus is on phenomena of "fundamental physics" in the immediate surroundings of the black…
A unified, consistent and simple view of the Faraday law of induction is presented, which consists of two points: discriminating the lab- from the rest-frame electric field and understanding it is the impossibility for both fields to vanish…
Modern physics is founded on two mainstays: mathematical modelling and empirical verification. These two assumptions are prerequisite for the objectivity of scientific discourse. Here we show, however, that they are contradictory, leading…
The twin paradox, which evokes from the the idea that two twins may age differently because of their relative motion, has been studied and explained ever since it was first described in 1906, the year after special relativity was invented.…
The goal of this lecture is to introduce the student to the theory of Special Relativity. Not to overload the content with mathematics, the author will stick to the simplest cases; in particular only reference frames using Cartesian…
The Gravity Probe B (GP-B) satellite experiment will measure the precession of on-board gyroscopes to extraordinary accuracy. Such precessions are predicted by General Relativity (GR), and one component of this precession is the…
The distinction between the real positions of moving objects in a single reference frame and the apparent positions of objects at rest in one inertial frame and viewed from another, as predicted by the space-time Lorentz Transformations, is…