Related papers: Graphical aids for relativistic optics
Starting with two light clocks to derive time dilation expression, as many textbooks do, and then adding a third one, we work on relativistic spacetime coordinates relations for some simple events as emission, reflection and return of light…
We highlight the correspondence between one-dimensional Lorentz transformations, which relate events observed from two distinct inertial reference frames, and ray transfer transformations in Gaussian optics. Specifically, we identify…
We present a space-time diagram that displays in true values the space- time coordinates of events associated with the apparent and actual positions of a point like source moving with constant velocity. We use it in order to construct the…
We present visual calculations in special relativity using spacetime diagrams drawn on graph paper that has been rotated by 45 degrees. The rotated lines represent lightlike directions in Minkowski spacetime, and the boxes in the grid…
We present a relativistic space-time diagram that displays in true magnitudes the readings (daytimes) of two inertial reference frames clocks. One reference frame is the rest frame for one clock. This diagram shows that two events…
A two-dimensional Minkowski spacetime diagram is neatly represented on a Euclidean ordinary plane. However the Euclidean lengths of the lines on the diagram do not correspond to the true values of physical quantities in spacetime, except…
The conventional discussion of apparent distortions of space and time in Special Relativity (the Lorentz-Fitzgerald Contraction and Time Dilatation) is extended by considering observations of : (i) moving objects of limited lifetime in…
This paper shows as the relativistic Doppler effect can be extended also to time and space associated to moving bodies. This extension derives from the analysis of the wave-fronts of the light emitted by a moving source in inertial motion…
After having shown that the corresponding components of a four vector transform via the same transformation factors as the space-time coordinates of the same event do, we design a relativistic diagram that displays in true values theirs…
We show that starting with the fact that special relativity theory is concerned with a distortion of the observed length of a moving rod, without mentioning if it is a "contraction" or "dilation", we can derive the Lorentz transformations…
The Lorentz transformations are represented by Einstein velocity addition on the ball of relativistically admissible velocities. This representation is by projective maps. The Lie algebra of this representation defines the relativistic…
We present a simple derivation of the Lorentz transformations for the space-time coordinates of the same event. It is based on the relative character of length and time interval as measured by observes in relative motion. We begin by…
The conventional discussion of the observed distortions of space and time in Special Relativity (the Lorentz-Fitzgerald Contraction and Time Dilatation) is extended by considering observations, from a stationary frame, of : (i) objects…
Starting with a thought experiment proposed by Kard, which derives the formula that accounts for the relativistic effect of length contraction, we present a "two line" transparent derivation of the Lorentz-Einstein transformations for the…
A calculus based on pointer-mark coincidences is proposed to define, in a mathematically rigorous way, measurements of space and time intervals. The connection between such measurements in different inertial frames according to the Galilean…
In this paper the analogues of the Lorentz transformations for non-inertial reference frames have been obtained. A common case when the movement speed of one coordinate frame in relation to another one can have time derivatives of higher…
The Lorentz transformation is used to analyse space and time coordinates corresponding to two spatially-separated clocks in the same inertial frame. The time dilatation effect is confirmed, but not `relativity of simultaneity' or…
The longitudinal Doppler shift is a measure of hyperbolic distance. Transformations of uniform motion are determined by the Doppler shift, while its square root transforms to a uniformly accelerated frame. A time-velocity space metric is…
Space-like and time-like invariant space-time intervals are used to analyse measurements of spatial and temporal distances. The former are found to be Lorentz invariant --there is no `relativistic length contraction', whereas the latter…
We present a didactic derivation of the special theory of relativity in which Lorentz transformations are `discovered' as symmetry transformations of the Klein-Gordon equation. The interpretation of Lorentz boosts as transformations to…