Showing papers on "Special relativity (alternative formulations) published in 1987"

Tests of relativity from SN1987A.

Abstract: The observation of neutrinos and light from the recent supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud has provided us with a wealth of new information, both about stellar collapse and about neutrinos I point out that, in addition, the nearly simultaneous arrival of the photons and neutrinos after a journey of some 160 000 yr shows that the limiting velocity of electron antineutrinos is equal to that of light to an accuracy \ensuremath{\sim}2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}9}$, which is a more stringent test of special relativity than previous Earth-based measurements It also provides an important new test of relativity and probes the structure of spacetime on intergalactic scales

The comparative reception of relativity.

Abstract: Stanley Goldberg/Putting New Wine in Old Bottles: The Assimilation of Relativity in America.- Jose M. Sanchez-Ron/The Reception of Special Relativity in Great Britain.- Lewis Pyenson/The Relativity Revolution in Germany.- Michel Paty/The Scientific Reception of Relativity in France.- Michel Biezunski/Einstein's Reception in Paris in 1922.- Barbara J. Reeves/Einstein Politicized: The Early Reception of Relativity in Italy.- Thomas F. Glick/Relativity in Spain.- V.P. Vizginand G.E. Gorelik/The Reception of the Theory of Relativity in Russia and the USSR.- Bronis?aw ?Redniawa/The Reception of the Theory of Relativity in Poland.- Tsutomu Kaneko/Einstein's Impact on Japanese Intellectuals.- Thomas F. Glick/Cultural Issues in the Reception of Relativity.

Modern Tests of Special Relativity

Abstract: From our perspective one hundred years after the fact, the null result of the Michelson‐Morley ether‐drift experiment clearly marked the beginning of the end for the Newtonian notions of absolute space and time. At the time, however, it took 20 years of work by H. A. Lorentz, Henri Poincare and others for most physicists to come to the same conclusion. In 1887, fundamental physics appeared to be essentially complete. Newtonian mechanics and Maxwell's electrodynamics were in hand, and a grand unification of physics seemed within reach. It was expected that a purely mechanistic basis for the ether interpretation of Maxwell's equations could be constructed and would provide a final unity of physics. This was a concise and powerful world view that was not easily discarded, but the null result of Michelson‐Morley challenged its very heart.

Students’ spontaneous ideas about the speed of light

Abstract: The answers given by a group of physics graduate students to two problems on the speed of light are analysed. The results seem to confirm the use of spontaneous ideas which are very similar to those which form the ‘spontaneous’ kinematics proposed by Saltiel (1980). Some consequences related to the teaching of physics and special relativity are discussed.

Killing-Yano tensors in general relativity

Abstract: It is shown that space-times admitting more than one independent Killing-Yano tensor belong to a small collection of highly idealised space-times. A new characterization of Robertson-Walker space-times arises as a corollary of the main theorem.

From Paradox to Reality: Our Basic Concepts of the Physical World

Abstract: Preface Part I. At the Roof of the Endeavor: 1. Human limitations 2. Theory and the role of mathematics 3. Scientific objectivity 4. The aim of scientific theory Part II. The World of Relativity: 5. Space and time: from absolute to relative 6. Imposed consistency: special relativity 7. Gravitation as geometry: general relativity 8. Revolutions without revolutions Part III. The Quantum World: 9. The limits of the classical world 10. Concepts of the quantum world 11. From apparent paradox to a new reality 12. The present state of the art Epilogue Notes Glossary of technical terms Name index Subject index.

Spinning fluids in general relativity. II - Self-consistent formulation

Abstract: Methods used earlier to derive the equations of motion for a spinning fluid in the Einstein-Cartan theory are specialized to the case of general relativity. The main idea is to include the spin as a thermodynamic variable in the theory.

The Reception of Special Relativity in Great Britain

Abstract: One of the main purposes of any historical study dealing with the introduction of a new theory in a given scientific community is the identification of its principal characteristics; that is, of the common traits of such introduction. In the case of the introduction of special relativity in Great Britain, Stanley Goldberg1 carried out some studies assigning a prominent role to the ether concept. According to him there was widespread acceptance of the ether concept among British physicists during the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth. One of the consequences of that situation was that “the acceptance [of special relativity] hinged upon making it compatible with the concept of the ether. As paradoxical as that might be, there was almost unanimous agreement within the British physics community about such a prograrn”.2

A new approach to Special Relativity

Abstract: We present a new commonsense approach to Special Relativity based on direct observation instead of from the usual rationale conceived in terms of light travelling invisibly in vacuo. This approach permits the construction of a model of the time dilation effect.

The two-body problem in general relativity.

Abstract: We consider the two-body problem in post-Newtonian approximations of general relativity. We report the recent results concerning the equations of motion, and the associated Lagrangian formulation, of compact binary systems, at the third post-Newtonian order (∼ 1/c beyond the Newtonian acceleration). These equations are necessary when constructing the theoretical templates for searching and analyzing the gravitational-wave signals from inspiralling compact binaries in VIRGO-type experiments. c © 2001 Académie des sciences/Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS general relativity/equations of motion Sur le problème des deux corps en relativité générale Résumé. Nous considérons le problème des deux corps dans l’approximation post-newtonienne de la relativité générale. Nous présentons les résultats récents concernant les équations du mouvement, et la formulation lagrangienne associée, de systèmes binaires d’objets compacts, au troisième ordre post-newtonien (∼ 1/c après l’accélération newtonienne). Ces équations sont utilisées dans la construction des filtres théoriques pour la détection et l’analyse des signaux d’ondes gravitationnelles provenant des binaires compactes spiralantes dans les expériences du type VIRGO. c © 2001 Académie des sciences/Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS relativité générale/équations du mouvement Note présentée par First name NAME S1296-2147(01)01171-?/FLA c © 2001 Académie des sciences/Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS. Tous droits réservés. 1

The Reception of the Theory of Relativity in Poland

Abstract: The situation of science in Poland in the nineteenth and in the first years of the twentieth century was not favorable. From the last years of the eighteenth century the whole territory of Poland had been divided and occupied by Russia, Prussia and Austria. The occupying powers were by no means interested in the development of science in the annexed country. Therefore, many decades of the nineteenth century were occupied by the struggle of the Polish community for preservation and re-Polonization of academic schools. This struggle succeeded only in the Austrian sector. There, at the turn of the twentieth century, four academic schools were active where science was taught and scientific research was performed, among them the two universities: Jagellonian University in Cracow (founded in 1364) and Lvov University (established in 1661). Physics and mathematics were also taught and cultivated in the Technical Academy in Lvov and in the Agricultural Academy at Dublany, near Lvov.

Relativity in Spain

Abstract: The reception of relativity in Spain was a phenomenon dominated by mathematicians with extensive linkages to Italian mathematics; as a result, general relativity dominated scientific discussions. Many of the leading figures were conservative Catholics and, indeed, one could make the case that, in ideological terms, relativity became a conservative cause in Spain. In order to determine why this should have been so we must investigate the sources of demand for information about relativity. In general, the most conspicuous “consumers” of Einstein’s theories in Spain were engineers, also a Catholic, socially conservative group. Engineers, we will see, differed greatly in their ability to understand relativity, although enthusiasm for Einstein was not affected by intellectual disability. Inasmuch as the scientific reception was significantly tailored to the demands of the engineering community, who, in turn, produced most of the popularizations of relativity for the general public, we treat the reception of relativity as a seamless web, a culturewide phenomenon engaging different levels of society and domains of discourse simultaneously, with multiple feedbacks among them. To view the reception of relativity thus – as a phenomenon which ripples through an entire culture – we must disabuse ourselves of the view that the distinction between “scientific” and “popular” receptions is a meaningful one. The ideas clearly lose physical meaning the farther they stray from mathematical language. But a contextual approach must focus on what was perceived or found useful by different groups appropriating relativity, without attempting to assess the physical validity of the discussion at each point. To do so would only belabor the obvious.1

Proposal for an interpretation of the Hermitian theory of relativity

Abstract: The equilibrium conditions for charges and currents, apparent in exact solutions of the field equations, lead one to regard the Hermitian theory of relativity as the theory of a field endowed with two sources: electromagnetic and color four-currents.

Fundamental Tests of Special Relativity and the Isotropy of Space

Abstract: When one considers tests of special relativity and the isotropy of space, the experiment of MICHELSON and MORLEY [1] immediately comes to mind. These scientists might not have anticipated that one hundred years after their landmark experiment, there is an ever increasing interest in the subject. The discovery of the anisotropy in the 3K cosmic blackbody radiation and its subsequent interpretation as due to the earth’s motion through the 3K radiation rest frame [2] makes it interesting to reconsider experiments that can test for the one way speed of light. Indeed, high resolution laser spectroscopy appears to have the most to offer in terms of improved techniques and increased precisian for these tests.

Experimental analysis of absolute space-time Lorentz theories

Abstract: Experiments designed to test Special Relativity are reviewed and their capabilities of distinguishing Special Relativity from Absolute Space-Time theories is analyzed Of two specific forms of Absolute theories proposed in recent years, we show that one is refuted by past experiments while the other is still in contention

A completion of A. Bressan's work on axiomatic foundations of the Mach Painlevé type for various classical theories of continuous media. Part 2. Alternative completion of Bressan's work, fit for extension to special relativity

Abstract: — The work [3] of axiomatization of various classical theories on continuous bodies from the Mach-Painlevè point of view, is completed here in a way which -unlike [4]is suitable for extension to special relativity. The main reason of this is the fact that gravitation can be excluded in all the theories on continuous bodies considered here. Following [1], the notion of (physical) equivalence among affine inertial frames, and that of (physical isotropy of these frames are introduced; it is shown that the isotropic inertial frames equivalent to a fixed frame of this kind are those linked to this frame by a (proper) Galilean transformation. As in Part 1, the Euclidean physical metric on inertial spaces is consequently determined, without introducing it as a primitive notion. The treatment of Part 2 is referred to thermodynamic theories for continuous bodies and, as a particular case, to purely mechanic theories. In this last case, the primitive concepts are only the purely kinematical ones, presented in [3].

Equations of radiation gas dynamics in tetrad form for astrophysical applications

Abstract: This paper deals with the representation of relativistic equations of gas dynamics with due regard to the general relativity theory effects in the form accepted and widely applied in the special relativity theory. With this purpose, a strict formal definition of a non-inertial co-moving reference frame without rotation is carried out on the basis of a tetrad formalism by use of the Fermi—Walker rules of transport of 4-frame. The equations of physical kinetics, relativistic collapse, Einstein's equations, equations of relatiivistic radiation gas dynamics for ideal and dissipative gases, Taub's equations for a shock wave, which allow for radiation and electron-positron pairs, are obtained in this reference frame. On the basis of the local Lorentz transformation and the Ricci rotation coefficients, these equations are written in the laboratory reference frame, in order to illustrate the fact that the general relativity effects can be simply taken into account in the equations having a form accepted in the special relativity theory.

Critical Analysis of the Tests of Local Realism Versus Quantum Mechanics

Abstract: P. A. M. Dirac [1] emphasized the fact that several dramatic advances in physics have come from the solution of a previous conflict between two well established theories (which is just an example of the usefulness of the dialectic method). For instance, the contradiction between Newton’s mechanics and Maxwell’s electromagnetism was solved by Einstein with the introduction of special relativity. Similarly, the conflict between special relativity and Newtonian gravitation gave rise to general relativity. A conflict similar to the latter is the one existing at present between local realism and quantum mechanics. In fact, in both cases the conflict arises because it is predicted a violation of the principle of local action: by gravitational forces at a distance in the first case, and by the influence of a measurement on another one performed at a distant place, in quantum mechanics. As the principle of local action (signals cannot travel faster than light) is at the roots of relativity theory, I guess that a dramatic advance in physics will soon take place, when this conflict is solved.

The Quantum and Rest Frame Vacuum - Absolute Motion with Lorentz Convariance

Abstract: In reading a translation of Lorentz’s original relativity paper, which preceded Einstein’s by about five years, I was startled to see how much of Special Relativity he developed. His foundation was the idea that Maxwell’s equation of electromagnetism is more fundamental than Newton’s equation of motion. He explored the “symmetry” of Maxwell’s equation, discovering the famous Lorentz transformations. He also then modified Newton’s motion equation to confirm to this symmetry and thus hit upon the correct Newton-Einstein equation of motion.

From General Relativity and Relativistic Cosmology to Gauge Theories

Abstract: The most important intellectual consequence of the general theory of relativity is the clarification it has brought into the relations between science and philosophy. In fact, the effects of the general theory of relativity were to re-establish physics on a philosophical basis and thereby to elucidate many bewildering phenomena and implications of modern research and thinking.