Introduction to Special Relativity

by Rindler, Wolfgang

• ISBN13: 9780198539520
• ISBN10: 0198539525
• Additional ISBN(s): 9780198531821, 9780198539537
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1991-07-11
• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• More Book Details

Summary

This textbook offers a concise but thorough treatment of the theory of special relativity for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students. Assuming no prior knowledge of relativity, the author elaborates the underlying logic and describes the subtleties and apparent paradoxes. The text also contains a large number of problems which cover the basic modes of thinking and calculating in special relativity. Emphasis is placed on developing the student's intuitive understanding of space-time geometry along with the necessary methods of four-tensor calculus, though three-dimensional methods are also described. This updated new edition contains additional examples and problems, and the chapter on relativistic mechanics of continua has been substantially rewritten.

Table of Contents

The Foundations of Special Relativity

Introduction

Schematic Account of the Michelson-Morley Experiment

Inertial frames in Special Relativity

Einstein's Two Axioms for Special Relativity

Coordinates. The Relativity of Time

Derivation of the Lorentz Transformation

Properties of the Lorentz Transformation

Relativistic Kinematics

Introduction

Length Contraction

The Length Contraction Paradox

Time Dilation

The Twin Paradox

Velocity Transformation

Transformation of Linear Acceleration

Relativistic Optics

Introduction

The Drag Effect

The Doppler Effect

Aberration and the Visual Appearance of Moving Objects

Spacetime

Introduction

Spacetime and Four-Tensors

The Minkowski Map of Spacetime

Rules for the Manipulation of Four-Tensors

Four-Velocity and Four-Acceleration

Wave Motion

Relativistic Particle Mechanics

Introduction

The Conservation of Four-Momentum

The Equivalence of Mass and Energy

Some Four-Momentum Identities

Relativistic Billiards

The Center of Momentum Frame

Threshhold Energies

De Broglie Waves

Photons

The Angular Momentum Four-Tensor

Three-Force and Four-Force

Relativistic Analytic Mechanics

Relativity and Electromagnetism

Introduction

The Formal Structure of Maxwell's Theory

Transformation of e and b. The dual field.

Potential and Field of an Arbitrarily Moving Charge

Field of a Uniformly Moving Charge

The Electromagnetic Energy Tensor

Electromagnetic Waves

Relativistic Mechanics of Continua

Introduction

Preliminaries. External and Internal Forces

The Augmented Momentum and Mass Densities

The Equations of Continuity and of Motion

The Mechanical Energy Tensor

Perfect Fluids and Incoherent Fluids

Integral Conservation Laws

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