dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaClock rates, clock settings and the physics of the space-time Lorentz transformation
| Authors | J. H. Field |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0606101 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0606101 |
Abstract
A careful study is made of the operational meaning of the time symbols appearing in the space-time Lorentz transformation. Four distinct symbols, with different physical meanings, are needed to describe reciprocal measurements involving stationary and uniformly-moving clocks. Physical predictions concern only the observed rate of a clock as a function of its relative speed, not its setting. How the failure to make this distinction leads to the conventional predictions of spurious `relativity of simultaneity' and `length contraction' effects in special relativity is explained.
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"abstract": "A careful study is made of the operational meaning of the time symbols\nappearing in the space-time Lorentz transformation. Four distinct symbols, with\ndifferent physical meanings, are needed to describe reciprocal measurements\ninvolving stationary and uniformly-moving clocks. Physical predictions concern\nonly the observed rate of a clock as a function of its relative speed, not its\nsetting. How the failure to make this distinction leads to the conventional\npredictions of spurious `relativity of simultaneity\u0027 and `length contraction\u0027\neffects in special relativity is explained.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0606101",
"authors": [
"J. H. Field"
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"title": "Clock rates, clock settings and the physics of the space-time Lorentz transformation",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0606101"
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