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Relativistic Mechanics

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55 views2 pages

Relativistic Mechanics

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Al Chemist
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Relativistic Mechanics

Introduction
The mechanics of objects moving at velocity comparable to the speed of light; is compatible with the
special relativity and general relativity theories of relativity.
We know that Newton’s laws of motion hold and are invariant in inertial frames of Reference that are
related by the Galilean transformation. But it is the Lorentz transformation rather than the Galilean
transformation that is correct. That means that the Laws of classical mechanics cannot be correct, and
we must find new laws of relativistic
Mechanics.
In doing so, we will be guided by 3 principles:
1. A correct relativistic law must hold in all inertial frames, i.e., it must be invariant Under the
Lorentz transformation.
2. Relativistic definitions and laws must reduce to their nonrelativistic counterparts When applied
to systems moving much slower than the speed of light.
3. Our relativistic laws must agree with experiment

In physics, relativistic mechanics refers to mechanics compatible with special relativity (SR) and general
relativity (GR). It provides a non-quantum mechanical description of a system of particles, or of a fluid, in
cases where the velocities of moving objects are comparable to the speed of light c. As a result, classical
mechanics is extended correctly to particles traveling at high velocities and energies, and provides a
consistent inclusion of electromagnetism with the mechanics of particles. This was not possible in
Galilean relativity, where it would be permitted for particles and light to travel at any speed, including
faster than light. The foundations of relativistic mechanics are the postulates of special relativity and
general relativity. The unification of SR with quantum mechanics is relativistic quantum mechanics, while
attempts for that of GR is quantum gravity, an unsolved problem in physics. As with classical mechanics,
the subject can be divided into "kinematics"; the description of motion by specifying positions, velocities
and accelerations, and "dynamics"; a full description by considering energies, momenta, and angular
momenta and their conservation laws, and forces acting on particles or exerted by particles. There is
however a subtlety; what appears to be "moving" and what is "at rest"—which is termed by "statics" in
classical mechanics—depends on the relative motion of observers who measure in frames of reference.
Although some definitions and concepts from classical mechanics do carry over to SR, such as force as
the time derivative of momentum (Newton's second law), the work done by a particle as the line
integral of force exerted on the particle along a path, and power as the time derivative of work done,
there are a number of significant modifications to the remaining definitions and formulae. SR states that
motion is relative and the laws of physics are the same for all experimenters irrespective of their inertial
reference frames. In addition to modifying notions of space and time, SR forces one to reconsider the
concepts of mass, momentum, and energy all of which are important constructs in Newtonian
mechanics. SR shows that these concepts are all different aspects of the same physical quantity in much
the same way that it shows space and time to be interrelated. Consequently, another modification is the
concept of the center of mass of a system, which is straightforward to define in classical mechanics but
much less obvious in relativity – see relativistic center of mass for details. The equations become more
complicated in the more familiar three-dimensional vector calculus formalism, due to the nonlinearity in
the Lorentz factor, which accurately accounts for relativistic velocity dependence and the speed limit of
all particles and fields. However, they have a simpler and elegant form in four-dimensional spacetime,
which includes flat Minkowski space (SR) and curved spacetime (GR), because three-dimensional vectors
derived from space and scalars derived from time can be collected into four vectors, or four-dimensional
tensors. However, the six component angular momentum tensor is sometimes called a bivector because
in the 3D viewpoint it is two vectors (one of these, the conventional angular momentum, being an axial
vector).

Relativistic kinematics
Main article: Four-velocity
The relativistic four-velocity, that is the four-vector representing velocity in relativity, is defined as

follows:

In the above, T (tau) is the proper time of the path through spacetime, called the world-line, followed by
the object velocity the above represents, and

Is the four-position; the coordinates of an event. Due to time dilation, the proper time is the time
between two events in a frame of reference where they take place at the same location. The proper

time is related to coordinate time t by:


Where is {gamma(v)} the Lorentz factor:

(either version may be quoted) so it follows:


The first three terms, excepting the factor of gamma(v) is the velocity as seen by the observer in their
own reference frame. The gamma( v) determined by the velocity {v} between the observer’s reference
frame and the object’s frame, which is the frame in which its proper time is measured. This quantity is
invariant under Lorentz transformation, so to check to see what an observer in a different reference
frame sees, one simply multiplies the velocity four-vector by the Lorentz transformation matrix between
the two reference frames.

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