Ebook: Relativity and the Nature of Spacetime
Author: Dr. Vesselin Petkov (auth.)
- Tags: Relativity and Cosmology, Philosophy, Mathematical Methods in Physics
- Series: The Frontiers Collection
- Year: 2005
- Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
- Language: English
- pdf
The most important question that is addressed in this book is "what is the nature (the ontological status) of spacetime?" or, equivalently, "what is the dimensionality of the world at the macroscopic level?" The answer to this question is developed via a thorough analysis of relativistic effects and explicitly asking whether the objects involved in those effects are three-dimensional or four-dimensional. This analysis clearly shows that if the world and the physical objects were three-dimensional, none of the kinematic relativistic effects and the experimental evidence supporting them would be possible. The implications of this result for physics, philosophy, and our entire world view are discussed.
The most important question that is addressed in this book is "what is the nature (the ontological status) of spacetime?" or, equivalently, "what is the dimensionality of the world at the macroscopic level?" The answer to this question is developed via a thorough analysis of relativistic effects and explicitly asking whether the objects involved in those effects are three-dimensional or four-dimensional. This analysis clearly shows that if the world and the physical objects were three-dimensional, none of the kinematic relativistic effects and the experimental evidence supporting them would be possible. The implications of this result for physics, philosophy, and our entire world view are discussed.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages I-XII
Introduction....Pages 1-8
On the Impossibility of Detecting Uniform Motion....Pages 13-27
Exploring the Internal Logic of Galileo’s Principle of Relativity....Pages 29-53
Relativity in Euclidean Space and in Spacetime....Pages 55-116
Relativity and the Dimensionality of the World: Spacetime Is Real....Pages 121-153
Quantum Mechanics and the Nature of Spacetime....Pages 155-169
The Nature of Spacetime and Validity of Scientific Theories....Pages 171-183
Propagation of Light in Non-Inertial Reference Frames....Pages 191-223
Calculating the Electric Field of a Charge in a Non-Inertial Reference Frame....Pages 225-241
Inertia as a Manifestation of the Reality of Spacetime....Pages 243-272
Back Matter....Pages 273-293
The most important question that is addressed in this book is "what is the nature (the ontological status) of spacetime?" or, equivalently, "what is the dimensionality of the world at the macroscopic level?" The answer to this question is developed via a thorough analysis of relativistic effects and explicitly asking whether the objects involved in those effects are three-dimensional or four-dimensional. This analysis clearly shows that if the world and the physical objects were three-dimensional, none of the kinematic relativistic effects and the experimental evidence supporting them would be possible. The implications of this result for physics, philosophy, and our entire world view are discussed.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages I-XII
Introduction....Pages 1-8
On the Impossibility of Detecting Uniform Motion....Pages 13-27
Exploring the Internal Logic of Galileo’s Principle of Relativity....Pages 29-53
Relativity in Euclidean Space and in Spacetime....Pages 55-116
Relativity and the Dimensionality of the World: Spacetime Is Real....Pages 121-153
Quantum Mechanics and the Nature of Spacetime....Pages 155-169
The Nature of Spacetime and Validity of Scientific Theories....Pages 171-183
Propagation of Light in Non-Inertial Reference Frames....Pages 191-223
Calculating the Electric Field of a Charge in a Non-Inertial Reference Frame....Pages 225-241
Inertia as a Manifestation of the Reality of Spacetime....Pages 243-272
Back Matter....Pages 273-293
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