Related papers: Lorentz Group in Ray Optics
In recent years it has been recognized that the hyperbolic numbers (an extension of complex numbers, defined as z=x+h*y with h*h=1 and x,y real numbers) can be associated to space-time geometry as stated by the Lorentz transformations of…
The light cone formalism of a massive scalar field has been shown by Dirac to have many advantages. But it is not manifestly Lorentz invariant. We will show that this is a feature not a bug: Lorentz invariance is indeed a symmetry, but in a…
In 1905 the well-known physicist Max Planck was coeditor of the Annalen der Physik, and he accepted Einstein's paper on light quanta for publication, even though he disliked the idea of "light quanta". Einstein's relativity paper was…
We present the basic concepts of space and time, the Galilean and pseudo-Euclidean geometry. We use an elementary geometric framework of affine spaces and groups of affine transformations to illustrate the natural relationship between…
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…
Special relativity is reformulated as a symmetry property of space-time: Space-Time Exchange Invariance. The additional hypothesis of spatial homogeneity is then sufficient to derive the Lorentz transformation without reference to the…
Noninertial transformations on time-position-momentum-energy space {t,q,p,e} with invariant Born-Green metric ds^2=-dt^2+dq^2/c^2+(1/b^2)(dp^2-de^2/c^2) and the symplectic metric -de/\dt+dp/\dq are studied. This U(1,3) group of…
Special relativity is foundation of many branches of modern physics, of which theoretical results are far beyond our daily experience and hard to realized in kinematic experiments. However, its outcomes could be demonstrated by making use…
According to general relativity, the interaction of a matter field with gravitation requires the simultaneous introduction of a tetrad field, which is a field related to translations, and a spin connection, which is a field assuming values…
We present an elementary, symmetry-first derivation of the Lorentz transformation together with a methodological clarification of the linearity step. Starting from the Principle of Relativity, supplemented by spacetime homogeneity,…
The foundations of Einstein's first (1907) principle of equivalence are explored and their consequences are stated in terms of invariance under generalized Lorentz transformations, first explored by Hessenberg.
Lorentz [of the Lorentz transforms and Lorentz contractions fame] contended against Einstein that there had to be a medium in which electro-magnetic waves exist and propagate, and that that would of necessity be an absolute frame of…
In these lecture notes we review the isomorphism between the (connected) Lorentz group and the set of conformal transformations of the sphere. More precisely, after establishing the main properties of the Lorentz group, we show that it is…
The Poincare' group generalizes the Galilei group for high-velocity kinematics. The de Sitter group is assumed to go one step further, generalizing Poincare' as the group governing high-energy kinematics. In other words, ordinary special…
We complete the first stage of constructing a theory of fields not investigated before; these fields transform according to Lorentz group representations decomposable into an infinite direct sum of finite-dimensional irreducible…
It is shown as experiments and theories about the nature of light led to the special theory of relativity. The most important facts for the emergence of the theory proposed by Einstein in 1905 are presented.
It is shown that the one-lens system in para-axial optics can serve as an optical computer for contraction of Wigner's little groups and an analogue computer which transforms analytically computations on a spherical surface to those on a…
A gauge theory of the Lorentz group with a mass-dimension one gauge field coupling to matter of any spin is developed. As a completely new feature the "Vierbein" assuring local gauge invariance enters not as an independent dynamical field,…
In 1971, Feynman et al. published a paper on hadronic mass spectra and transition rates based on the quark model. Their starting point was a Lorentz-invariant differential equation. This equation can be separated into a Klein-Gordon…
A free system, considered to be a comparison system, allows for the notion of objective existence and inertial frame. Transformations connecting inertial frames are shown to be either Lorentz or generalized Galilei.