Related papers: Another thought experiment in special relativity
We give a critical analysis of the conceptual foundations of special relativity. We formulate a simple operational criterion for distinguishing between noninertial and inertial frames which is introduced prior to geometry. We associate the…
Structured beams of light can move small objects in surprising ways. Particularly striking examples include observations of polarization-dependent forces acting on optically isotropic objects and tractor beams that can pull objects opposite…
The modern view, that there exists a preferred frame of reference related to the cosmic microwave background (CMB), is in apparent contradiction with the principles of special relativity. The purpose of the present study is to develop a…
If isotropy of space and homogeneity of space and time are the valid laws of nature then one can show that velocity of any signal (whether it is light in a vacuum or in a medium or something having constant velocity in the rest frame of the…
Various authors have investigated the problem of light deflection by radially moving gravitational lenses - with inconsistent results. In this paper we generalize the calculations for arbitrary lens velocities and show that, to first order…
As a subject, an observer is fundamentally at rest in a reference frame, and this being at rest allows for measuring the motion of physical objects. Exploring the experience of centrifugal force brings to the fore the natural inclination to…
We postulate that all the presently known kinematic effects on physical quantities related to a material particle (e.g., masss increase) are due to its velocity relative to surrounding matter, and not to the observer's reference frame. The…
That the speed of light in free space is constant is a cornerstone of modern physics. However, light beams have finite transverse size, which leads to a modification of their wavevectors resulting in a change to their phase and group…
In Gedankenexperiment mentioned in the title, the imprecision in space-time measurement is related to the spreading of clock's wave-function with the passage of time required for the measurement. Special relativity puts a bound on the…
A new derivation of the relativistic aberration formula for a plane-polarized light wave is presented that does not require any use of the Lorentz transformation. The method is based on a modification of the Huygens-Fresnel principle to…
Besides the defining space-time symmetries (homogeneity and isotropy) of inertial frames, the derivation of Lorentz transformation requires postulating the principle of relativity and the existence of a finite speed limit. In this article,…
We investigate gravitational lensing in the context of the MOG modified theory of gravity. Using a formulation of the theory with no adjustable or fitted parameters, we present the MOG equations of motion for slow, nonrelativistic test…
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…
The hypothesis of a discrete fabric of the universe--the "Planck scale"--is always on stage, since it solves mathematical and conceptual problems in the infinitely small. However, it clashes with special relativity, which is designed for…
A ray-optics model is proposed to describe the vector beam transformation in a strongly focusing optical system. In contrast to usual approaches basing on the focused field distribution near the focal plane, we employ the transformed beam…
The nonlinear quantum interaction of a linearly polarized x-ray probe beam with a focused intense standing laser wave is studied theoretically. Because of the tight focusing of the standing laser pulse, diffraction effects arise for the…
The quantum boomerang effect is a counterintuitive phenomenon where a wave packet, despite having an initial momentum, returns to its starting position in a disordered medium. However, up to now, the experimental exploration of this effect…
Applying the fact that guided photons inside a waveguide can be treated as massive particles, one can study the superluminality of evanescent modes via showing that a massive particle can propagate over a spacelike interval, which…
We demonstrate the excitation, using a structured light beam carrying orbital angular momentum, of the center of mass motion of a single atom in the transverse direction to the beam's propagation. This interaction is achieved with a vortex…
In this work we address the issue of peculiar velocity measurement in a perturbed Friedmann universe using the deviations from measured luminosity distances of standard candles from background FRW universe. We want to show and quantify the…