Relativity without tears
arXiv:0708.0929
Abstract
Special relativity is no longer a new revolutionary theory but a firmly established cornerstone of modern physics. The teaching of special relativity, however, still follows its presentation as it unfolded historically, trying to convince the audience of this teaching that Newtonian physics is natural but incorrect and special relativity is its paradoxical but correct amendment. I argue in this article in favor of logical instead of historical trend in teaching of relativity and that special relativity is neither paradoxical nor correct (in the absolute sense of the nineteenth century) but the most natural and expected description of the real space-time around us valid for all practical purposes. This last circumstance constitutes a profound mystery of modern physics better known as the cosmological constant problem.
78 pages (format changed), 4 figures, LaTeX, typos corrected, references added
References in corpus (16)
- Measurements of Omega and Lambda from 42 High-Redshift Supernovae
- Thermodynamics of Spacetime: The Einstein Equation of State
- Mirror particles and mirror matter: 50 years of speculation and search
- Relativistic velocity space, Wigner rotation and Thomas precession
- Higher-Dimensional Algebra and Planck-Scale Physics
- Trigonometry of spacetimes: a new self-dual approach to a curvature/signature (in)dependent trigonometry
- Superluminal Velocity of Photons in a Gravitational Background
- Nothing but Relativity, Redux
- Reflections on Gravity
- On the Abuse and Use of Relativistic Mass
- What is Special About the Planck Mass?
- Phenomenology of effective gravity
- A Cosmic Archipelago: Multiverse Scenarios in the History of Modern Cosmology
- From semiconductors to quantum gravity: to centenary of Matvei Bronstein
- Remarks on central extensions of the Galilei group in 2+1 dimensions
- Generalized relativistic velocity addition with spacetime algebra