Related papers: Special Relativity for the School Going Child
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…
Relativistic positioning systems are interesting {\em technical objects} for applications around the Earth and in the Solar system. But above all else, they are basic {\em scientific objects} allowing developing relativity from its own…
This article is meant as a summary and introduction to the ideas of effective field theory as applied to gravitational systems. Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Effective Field Theories 3. Low-Energy Quantum Gravity 4. Explicit Quantum…
A challenge in teaching about special relativity is that a number of the theory's effects are at odds with the intuition of classical physics, as well as student's everyday experience. The relativity of simultaneity, time dilation and…
We review why the Thomas rotation is a crucial facet of special relativity, that is just as fundamental, and just as "unintuitive" and "paradoxical", as such traditional effects as length contraction, time dilation, and the ambiguity of…
An extension of the theory of General Relativity is proposed, based on pseudo-complex space-time coordinates. The new theory corresponds to the introduction of two, in general different, metrics which are connected through specific…
In this paper, we present a new heuristic derivation of the gravitational deflection of light around the Sun at the undergraduate level. Instead of solving the geodesic equation directly, we compute the correct deflection angle by focusing…
This is a brief introduction to general relativity, designed for both students and teachers of the subject. While there are many excellent expositions of general relativity, few adequately explain the geometrical meaning of the basic…
Following an approach proposed by Rosser for deriving the transformation equations of volume charge density and current density we derive the transformation equations for the space-time coordinates of the same event, for the mass and the…
The theory of gravitation field within the special theory of relativity is analyzed.
A pedagological introduction to effective field theory is presented.
I discuss some interesting classroom demonstrations of diamagnetism and how this effect can produce levitation. The possibilities for hands-on demonstrations of diamagnetic and superconducting levitation are discussed. To conclude I discuss…
We present a comprehensive introduction to the kinematics of special relativity based on Minkowski diagrams and provide a graphical alternative to each and every topic covered in a standard introductory sequence. Compared to existing…
A very elementary introduction to quantum algebras is presented and a few examples of their physical applications are mentioned.
Special relativity is most naturally formulated as a theory of space-time geometry, but within the space-time framework probability apears to be at best an epistemic notion - a matter of what can be known, not of the status of events in…
Gravity theories with non-minimally coupled scalar fields are used as characteristic examples in order to demonstrate the challenges, pitfalls and future perspectives of considering alternatives to general relativity. These lecture notes…
This is an introduction to the basic elements needed for the measurements and interpretation of data in the millimeter and sub-mm wavelength range. A more complete version will be published in the proceedings of the Saas Fee Winter School…
The empirical formula proposed by J. D. Anderson et al. [1] to reproduce the data on the Earth flyby anomalies is derived from special relativity (SR). The transverse Doppler shift together with the addition of velocities account for the…
The motion of spinning relativistic particles in external electromagnetic and gravitational fields is considered. A simple derivation of the spin interaction with gravitational field is presented. The self-consistent description of the spin…
This paper is a short introduction to orthogonal polynomials, both the general theory and some special classes. It ends with some remarks about the usage of computer algebra for this theory.