Tagged Questions

The union of special (SR) and general (GR) relativity. Use this tag if both SR and GR apply.

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Homework Help Please? [closed]

An electron is accelerated from rest through a voltage drop of .13 MeV, and then travels at constant velocity. a. How long does it take the electron, after it has reached its final velocity, to ...
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Superluminal particles with causality

What kind of CLASSICAL theories would allow to true (non-apparent) superluminal particles (beyond speed of light, BSOL) agreeing with causality to exist? I mean, are causal superluminal classical ...
0answers
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Mercury's Orbital Precession in Special Relativity

I am researching Mercury's orbital precession. I have considered most perturbations and general relativity. I am still not satisfied. I need your help. I need a solution to Exercise 13, Chapter 6, in ...
2answers
92 views

Repulsion does not exist; Gravity assist slingshot as a repulsive force [closed]

unification theory might say that there is only one force in universe that is called gravity(attraction). So at atomic level for same charges that repel eachother(electrons etc.), if thought of as a ...
1answer
32 views

What is the Lorentz tensor with a superscript and subscript index?

I have been reading about symmetries of systems' actions, e.g. the Polyakov action, and I have encountered Lorentz transformations of the form: $\Lambda^{\mu}_{\nu} X^{\nu}$. I am moderately familiar ...
2answers
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Mirror image at relativistic speeds

Imagine moving parallel to the surface of a very large flat mirror at relativistic speeds. What would be the effect of viewing yourself in the mirror? At non-relativistic speeds your image would be ...
1answer
115 views

Why can't we accelerate objects past the speed of light? [duplicate]

Is there any intuitive reasoning behind why there would be this universal speed limit? It just seems so arbitrary. I know that there must be things that are unknown, but what reasoning is there behind ...
1answer
82 views

Could the shadow move with faster-than-light speed? [duplicate]

If I make a huge laser with a figure for shadow in front of the laser, and I shine it on to the moon, will I see the light from the laser AND the shadow moving the same speed? (I read somewhere the ...
1answer
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Difference between vector and pseudo-scalar

In physics, a pseudo-scalar is a quantity that behaves like a scalar, except that it changes sign under a parity inversion such as improper rotations while a true scalar does not. Can someone show me ...
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59 views

Spacetime and Timelike Intervals

The difference between a “timelike” spacetime interval and a “spacelike” spacetime interval can be understood in the following way: If the spacetime interval between two events is timelike, there ...
1answer
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Is there a relativity-compatible thermodynamics?

I am just wondering that laws in thermodynamics are not Lorentz invariant, it only involves the $T^{00}$ component. Tolman gave a formalism in his book. For example, the first law is replaced by the ...
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effect of gravity on chemical reaction rates [closed]

a chemical reaction is done on earth in very vacuum and that chemical reaction is also done in space so that gravity higgs field not affect that reaction. Which reaction will be fast wrt gravity and ...
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Finding Velocity for Equal Received Wavelength from Two Moving Objects Emitting Light [closed]

In the diagram below, Spaceship 1 and Spaceship 2 are traveling towards earth from opposite directions. Both spaceships have headlights which emit light, which, when measured in the reference ...
2answers
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Relativity Problem Given Rest Length and Proper Time

A relativistic train with a rest length of 500.0 m takes 780 ns to pass a stationary observer standing on the train platform, as measured by the stationary observer. (a) What is the speed ...
2answers
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Relativity Problem with Three Reference Frames

I'm having trouble with the understanding on this last problem from my homework set. Two cars playing demolition derby are moving towards each other with constant velocity, as measured by ...
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Ricci tensor question

Suppose the Ricci tensor $R_{a}^{\;\;b}$, considered as a linear map on $T_{m}M$ at an even $m$, has only real eigenvalues. What are the five possible Jordan forms of $R_{a}^{\;\;b}$? Show that the ...
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55 views

Newman-Penrose tetrad question

I have a question/exercise relevant to students of mathematical relativity: Let $\left \{ l^{a},n^{a},m^{a},\bar{m}^{a} \right \}$ be a Newman-Penrose tetrad, where only the direction of $l^{a}$ is ...
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Weyl's axisymmetric static solution

I'm currently doing a course on general relativity, and I'm struggling with the following exercise - I would greatly appreciate the help anyone might offer. It is as follows: Weyl's solution to the ...
2answers
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What is the mass of a photon moving at the speed of light? [duplicate]

What is the mass of a photon moving at the speed of light? And if it does not have mass, how is it affected by gravity? Also why does Einstein's general relativity support that a gravitational wave ...
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What is an example of a situation where Quantum Mechanics and Relativity do not work together? [duplicate]

I've learned special relativity in school last semester, and this semester we began learning about Quantum Mechanics, and my teacher told us that there was a Relativistic Schrodinger equation. I was ...
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Is gravity not a force? [closed]

In 1967, Andrei Sakharov proposed the idea of Emergent Gravity, that perhaps gravity was emergent, i.e., not a result of a force. He did so because “many condensed matter systems give rise to ...
2answers
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“as measured in a local Lorentz frame”?

I've seen the phrase "as measured in a local Lorentz frame" tagged on the end of so many sentences. What does it mean precisely? To give an explanation with an example, consider the context of ...
1answer
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How much time has passed for Voyager I since it left the Earth, 34 years ago?

34 years have passed since Voyager I took off and it's just crossing the solar system, being approximately at 16.4 light-hours away. How much time have passed for itself, though?
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Need help with relativistic dynamics

I understand the concept, but I'm having a hard time applying the consequences of conservation (energy/momentum). For example: A proton with kinetic energy 437 MeV hits a proton at rest elastically ...
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Period of Transmission of signals in different frames

A radar transmitter (T) is fixed to a system $S_{2}$ which is moving to the right with speed v relative to system $S_{1}$. A timer in $S_{2}$, having a period $\tau_{0}$ (measured in $S_{2}$) causes ...
4answers
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Inertial Frames of Reference - Inertial vs. Accelerated Frames

According to Robert Resnick's book "Introduction to Special Relativity", a line states the following as the definition of an inertial frame of reference: "We define an inertial system as a frame of ...
1answer
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Could light travel more slowly than the “universal speed limit”? Could this imply quantization of spacetime?

One description of relativistic effects that I've heard/read goes something like this: Everything moves through spacetime at a constant speed. An object's direction of travel through spacetime can ...
1answer
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How do photons experience time? [duplicate]

I know that as velocity approaches the speed of light the time dilation shoots to infinity as shown below. 1)So I want to know how time is perceived from the point of view of the photon? 2)Since ...
1answer
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Deriving infinitesimal time dilation for arbitrary motion from Lorentz transformations

I'm trying to derive the infinitesimal time dilation relation $dt = \gamma d\tau$, where $\tau$ is the proper time, $t$ the coordinate time, and $\gamma = (1-v(t)^2/c^2)^{-1/2}$ the time dependent ...
3answers
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Black hole accretion of dark energy

Dark energy physically can be interpreted as either a fluid with positive mass but pressure the negative of its density (pressure has units of energy/volume, and energy is mass), or a property of ...
3answers
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Why do clocks measure arc-length?

Apologies in advance for the long question. My understanding is that in GR, massive observers move along timelike curves $x^\mu(\lambda)$, and if an observer moves from point $x^\mu(\lambda_a)$ to ...
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A Mathematician Who Wants to Learn Particle Physics [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Book recommendations I'm a grad student in pure math, wrapping up a thesis in Lie theory. After years of talking to mathematicians and physicists, I've decided that it's ...
2answers
144 views

Do the energy levels of electron orbitals change relativistically?

When an electron emits a photon from changing energy levels, the frequency of the photon depends on the difference between the energy levels. But if someone is moving with respect to the atom, the ...
2answers
189 views

Photons in a gravitational field

I have been really staring for a while in a MP-Beiser book and I totally disagree with a statement he does there. On a page 85 he states that photons act as they have a mass $m$. He derives this by ...
4answers
553 views

Does the future already exist? If so, which one?

In the NOVA Fabric of the Cosmos program, Brian Greene explains a theory in which there is no "now", or more specifically, now is relative. He describes an alien riding a bicycle on a far off planet ...
1answer
172 views

What are the consequences of relativistic angular velocities?

If I take a rod of some radius $r$ and length $L$, and I spin this rod with angular velocity $\omega$. How would the geometry of the rod appear to an observer as one converges to $c$? What are the ...
6answers
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Why are distant galaxies not actually tiny bits of matter?

Distant galaxies are said to be moving away from the Milky Way (and us) at speeds approaching the speed of light. Since Special Relativity tells us that any object moving away from us at a velocity of ...
1answer
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Are branes in 4D-spacetime moving, or are they static?

Given that a worldline, worldsheet, worldvolume, are representation in a 4D-spacetime of a point particle, a string or a brane, respectively, I was wondering if those objects necessarily have to be ...
1answer
162 views

Degrees of freedom in the infinite momentum frame

Lenny Susskind explains in this video at about 40min, as an extended object (for example a relativistic string) is boosted to the infinite momentum frame (sometimes called light cone frame), it has no ...
1answer
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Which kinds of Physics laws do and don't comply with the principle of relativity?

In Physics, the principle of relativity is the requirement that the equations describing the laws of physics have the same form in all admissible frames of reference. However, according to this and ...
2answers
195 views

Am I faster than my shadow?

I guess that everything that happens to me (or I do), happens before my shadow "records" the information. Is that right? Is it the same for any observer?
2answers
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Cascade in relativistic turbulence

The Kolmogorov theory of turbulence indicates an energy cascade in turbulence. Is there a corresponding version of relativistic fluid?
2answers
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Blue-shifting as opposed to violet-shifting

A recent XKCD comic implies that the sky is blue as opposed to violet due to human physiology, and that animals more sensitive to shorter wavelengths will perceive the Earth's sky as the shortest ...
1answer
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Why is energy-momentum 4-vector so much easier to explore/observe than spacetime 4-vector

I have read that spacetime 4-vector is quite difficult to observe/explore and that energy-momentum 4-vector is much more appropriate for CERN etc. Why is that? Could anyone give me a brief ...
2answers
161 views

Relativistic Hamiltonian Formulations [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Hamiltonian mechanics and special relativity? The Hamiltonian formulation is beautifully symmetric. It's a shame that the explicit time derivatives in Hamilton's ...
4answers
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Is there a default notation for 4-vectors while handwriting?

In printed paper 3-vectors can be denoted bold italic while 4-vectors can be denote just bold. While handwriting 3-vectors are denoted by arrows above letters. Is there a similar way to denote ...
1answer
171 views

Is a preferred reference frame of the universe the old aether?

About two years ago I posted a question about a symmetrical twin paradox: Here. Recently a new answer was posted and an intense discussion ensued: Here. One of the points discussed concerns a ...
1answer
107 views

How to relate photon's higher frequency to time dilation?

The usual explanation for photon's higher frequency in lower altitudes (higher gravity), when the photon is going downward towards a massive body, is that gravitational potential energy is converted ...
2answers
531 views

If nothing in the universe can travel faster than light, how come light can't escape a black hole? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How does gravity escape a black hole? If nothing in the universe can travel faster than light, how come light can't escape a black hole? I mean, Einstein's relativity ...
0answers
122 views

What facts and examples should I use in a debate with a Relativity Denier? [closed]

I have been asked to 'defend Science' at a Creationist event in Minneapolis, MN, and the guy I'll be debating is against 'Einsteinian Relativity', or as he characterizes it, the idea that there is no ...
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