Relativistic spring-mass system
Abstract
The harmonic oscillator plays a central role in physics describing the dynamics of a wide range of systems close to stable equilibrium points. The nonrelativistic one-dimensional spring-mass system is considered a prototype representative of it. It is usually assumed and galvanized in textbooks that the equation of motion of a relativistic harmonic oscillator is given by the same equation as the nonrelativistic one with the mass at the tip multiplied by the relativistic factor . Although the solution of such an equation may depict some physical systems, it does not describe, in general, one-dimensional relativistic spring-mass oscillators under the influence of elastic forces. In recognition to the importance of such a system to physics, we fill a gap in the literature and offer a full relativistic treatment for a system composed of a spring attached to an inertial wall, holding a mass at the end.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1810.13365,
title = {Relativistic spring-mass system},
author = {Rodrigo Andrade e Silva and Andre G. S. Landulfo and George E. A. Matsas and Daniel A. T. Vanzella},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1810.13365},
year = {2018}
}
Comments
16 pages, 5 figures