Buch, Englisch, 316 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 683 g
Reihe: The Frontiers Collection
Buch, Englisch, 316 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 683 g
Reihe: The Frontiers Collection
ISBN: 978-3-642-01952-4
Verlag: Springer
This is not a typical book on relativity. It puts the emphasis on conceptual questions: Why is there no such thing as absolute motion? What is the physical meaning of relativity of simultaneity? But, the most important question that is addressed in this book is "what is the nature 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.
Zielgruppe
Research
Autoren/Hrsg.
Fachgebiete
Weitere Infos & Material
I From Galileo to Minkowski.- On the Impossibility of Detecting Uniform Motion.- Exploring the Internal Logic of Galileo#x2019;s Principle of Relativity.- Relativity in Euclidean Space and in Spacetime.- II On the Nature of Spacetime:.- Relativity and the Dimensionality of the World: Spacetime Is Real.- Why Is the Issue of the Nature of Spacetime So Important?.- III Implications of the Reality of Spacetime for Physics.- Propagation of Light in Non-Inertial Reference Frames.- Calculating the Electric Field of a Charge in a Non-Inertial Reference Frame.- Inertia as a Manifestation of the Reality of Spacetime.- Spacetime and the Nature of Quantum Objects.- Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C, Appendix D.
