Visualizing proper-time in Special Relativity

Abstract

We present a new visualization of the proper-time elapsed along an observer's worldline. By supplementing worldlines with light clocks, the measurement of space-time intervals is reduced to the "counting of ticks." The resulting space-time diagrams are pedagogically attractive because they emphasize the relativistic view that "time is what is measured by an observer's clock."

11 pages, 14 figures, to appear