INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL RELATIVITY WOLFGANG RINDLER University of Texas at Dallas CLARENDON PRESS - OXFORD 1982Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford OX2 6DP London New York.Toronto Dethi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi Kuala Lumpur Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town Melbourne Auckiand and associated companies in Beirut Berlin Ibadan Mexico City Nicosia Oxford is a trade mark of Oxford University Press Published in the United States by Oxford University Press, New York © Wolfgang Rindler 1982 First published 1982 Reprinted 1985 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise. without the prior permission of Oxford University Press British Library Catalogwing in Pul ication Data Rindler, Wolfgang Introduction to special relativity. 1. Relativity ( Physics) 1. Title 530.11 QCI73.55 ISBN 0-19-853181-8 Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Rindler, Wolfgang, 1924 Introduction to special relativity. Includes index. 1. Relativity (Physics) 1. Title. QC173.65.R56 530.01 81-18748 ISBN 0-19-853181 -8 (Oxford University Press) ISBN 0-19-833182-6 (Oxford Universiy Press: pbk.) AACR. Printed in Great Britain by Billing & Sons Limited, London and WorcesterI Tl Iv CONTENTS THE FOUNDATIONS OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY 1. Introduction 2. 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 Exercises I RELATIVISTIC KINEMATICS 8. Introduction 9. Length contraction 10. The length contraction paradox il. Time dilation 12. The twin paradox 13. Velocity transformation 14. Transformation of linear acceleration Exercises II RELATIVISTIC OPTICS 15. Introduction 16. The drag effect 17. The Doppler effect 18. Aberration and the visual appearance of moving objects Exercises II] SPACETIME 19. Introduction 20. Spacetime and four-tensors 21, The Minkowski map of spacetime 22. Rules for the manipulation of four-tensors 23. Four-velocity and four-acceleration 24. Wave motion ises 1V maya 55 55 58 62 67 73