Related papers: Another thought experiment in special relativity
Relativistic treatment of the finite speed of light correction in absolute gravimeters, as evolved by Rothleitner and Francis in Metrologia 2011, 48 442-445, following the initial publication in Metrologia 2011, 48 187-195, leads to…
The visualisation of objects moving at relativistic speeds has been a popular topic of study since Special Relativity's inception. While the standard exposition of the theory describes certain shape-changing effects, such as the…
Plasma lensing is the refraction of low-frequency electromagnetic rays due to cold free electrons in the universe. For sources at a cosmological distance, there is observational evidence of elongated, complex plasma structures along the…
While it has often been proposed that, fundamentally, Lorentz-invariance is not respected in a quantum theory of gravity, it has been difficult to reconcile deviations from Lorentz-invariance with quantum field theory. The most commonly…
We report an experiment in which a light pulse is decelerated and trapped in a vapor of Rb atoms, stored for a controlled period of time, and then released on demand. We accomplish this storage of light by dynamically reducing the group…
The importance of a teaching a clear definition of the ``observer'' in special relativity is highlighted using a simple astrophysical example from the exciting current research area of ``Gamma-Ray Burst'' astrophysics. The example shows…
We reconsider the case of the geodesic motion of a massive and massless beam of test particles in a gravitational wave. In particular, we use a direct Lagrangian approach which simplifies the calculation. Our findings differ partly from…
In special relativity theory the physical quantities are generally expressed as function of the velocity. In the particular case of an extended object, the factor 1/gamma of Lorentz contraction of its length in the direction of motion is…
Beam injection and extraction from a plasma module is still one of the crucial aspects to solve in order to produce high quality electron beams with a plasma accelerator. Proper matching conditions require to focus the incoming high…
We present a derivation of the relativistic length-contraction formula based on Lorentz space-time transformations on non-simultaneous events. Our derivation avoids the disputable story about the stationary observer and its simultaneous…
The simple reflection of a light beam of finite transverse extent from a homogenous interface gives rise to a surprisingly large number of subtle shifts and deflections which can be seen as diffractive corrections to the laws of geometrical…
Compact radio sources have been observed to undergo large, frequency dependent changes in intensity due to lensing by structures in the interstellar medium, in so-called "extreme scattering events" (ESEs). While the study of astrophysical…
To consider a medium carrying light and electromagnetic waves is impossible, when this medium shall have properties according to the principle of constant speed of light, that is, isotropy of speed of light in every system of reference.…
The theory of special relativity derives from the Lorentz transformation. The Lorentz transformation implies differential simultaneity and light speed isotropy. Experiments to probe differential simultaneity should be able to distinguish…
The visual appearance of a moving object in special relativity can be constructed in a straightforward manner when representing the surface of the object, or at least a wire frame model of it, as a point cloud. The apparent position of each…
We study the longitudinal motion of beam particles under the action of a single resonator wave induced by the beam itself. Based on the method of multiple scales we derive a system of coupled amplitude equations for the slowly varying part…
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…
Extreme mass-ratio inspirals, in which solar-mass compact bodies spiral into supermassive black holes, are an important potential source for gravitational wave detectors. Because of the extreme mass-ratio, one can model these systems using…
A reference frame consists of: a reference space, a time scale and a spatial metric. The geometric structure induced by these objects in spacetime is developed. The existence of a class of spatial metrics that are rigid, have free mobility…
The theoretical framework of electromagnetism played a foundational role in Einstein's development of special relativity. To support conceptual understanding, we present a fully special relativistic computer simulation that visualizes…