Einstein’s Theory of Special

Relativity

1
Lynn Umbarger 04/28/2005
 Topics (46 slides)

■ Einstein’s Thought Experiments

■ Reference Frames
■ The State of Classical Physics in 1900
■ The Problem
■ The Solution
■ The Effects of the Solution
■ Simultaneity
■ Gamma
■ Time Dilation
■ Length Contraction
■ The Lorentz Transformation
■ The Addition of Velocities
■ Relativistic Mass
■ Mass and Energy
■ General Relativity (13 additional slides, time permitting)
2
 Einstein’s Thought
Experiments

At the turn of the 20th century Einstein asked

the questions:
– If I dropped a pebble from the window of a train
carriage, I would see the stone accelerate toward
the moving ground 4 ft. beneath my window in a
straight line, then what would the person sitting
on the embankment next to the tracks see?
Would they not see it travel more than 4 ft. and
in a parabolic trajectory? Whose right?

– If I ran at the speed of light and looked into a

mirror at my face, would I see my reflection? 3
What is a Reference Frame?

■ A place to perform physical measurements

■ Could be thought of as a grid-work of meter-
rods and clocks so that trajectories and
timings can be performed
■ Your reference frame always moves with you
■ When someone or something is at rest
relative to you, then you are both in the
same “inertial” reference frame
■ When someone or something is not at rest
relative to you, then they are in a different
reference frame
■ Reference frames in Special Relativity are
4
said to be “inertial” because they are moving
What is a Reference Frame?

■ The reference frame O is at rest to the

reference frame O’ which is in motion at a
velocity of v and in the direction of the x – axis
of both reference frames

■ Not shown (yet) are the dimensions of time t

and t’ 5
The state of physics up to the
turn of the 20th century
■ Aristotle (349 BC)
– The universe was geocentric
– Everything moved on concentric spheres
– The Earth was a very special place
– Ptolemy (140 AD) added: The planets moved, at times, in
tiny perfect circles to explain retrograde

■ Copernicus (1543)
– The universe was heliocentric
– But everything moved in perfect circles

■ Brahe/Kepler (c. 1600)

– The known planets were heliocentric
– The planets moved in ellipses
– The universe was not necessarily a perfect place
6
The state of physics up to the
turn of the 20th century
■ Galileo (c. 1630)
– The solar system was heliocentric (got him in trouble)
– It was a non-perfect universe (I.e. Sunspots, Jupiter had
moons, Venus was actually a crescent)
– The natural state of motion is in a straight line until acted
upon by a force (inertia)
– One cannot tell if they are at rest or if in non-accelerated
motion
– There is no absolute rest frame of reference

■ Newton (c. 1680)

– The laws of motion (mechanics) are the same for everyone
provided that they are in uniform motion
– “Absolute Rest” and “Absolute Motion” are meaningless
unless they are relative to something (Galilean/Newtonian
Relativity)
– He also implied with his rotating bucket experiment, that
7
there existed a frame of reference at absolute rest
The state of physics up to the
turn of the 20th century
■ Maxwell (1860)
– Unifies electricity and magnetism into
“Electromagnetism” with 4 (beautiful) equations

– Electromagnetic waves move at the speed of light

(effectively unifying optics with
electromagnetism)

– The speed of light was at that time already known

to be around 186,00 miles per sec (~300,000
km/sec)

■ But to what was the speed of light relative?

8
The state of physics up to the
turn of the 20th century
■ The “Æther” (ether) was then proposed
– A flexible substance enough to penetrate
everything, yet rigid enough to be a medium for the
high speed of light

■ How do we find the existence of the ether?

– In 1887, the Michaelson-Morley experiment had a
null-result

■ An explanation
– Lorentz proposed that space shrinks (or contracts)
in the direction of travel through the ether by a
factor of:

9
 The Problem
(at the turn of the century)

■ There may exist a reference frame at

absolute rest, relative to which, light is
at a constant velocity of ‘c’

■ If motion (mechanics) is relative to

particular reference frames, then why
isn’t light?

10
 The Problem
(at the turn of the century)
■ Newton, who created the Inertial Reference
Frame (constant velocity), said it extended
indefinitely, across the universe

■ The only difference between two different

inertial reference frames, would be a change in
constant velocity: Once you knew one inertial
reference frame, then you knew them all

■ Therefore, when one changes inertial reference

frames, one should measure a different velocity
in the speed of light

11
Einstein’s solution in 1905
(On The Electrodynamics of Moving
Bodies)

■ Dispense with the concept of an ether

■ There are no reference frames at
absolute rest
■ Einstein’s two 1905 postulates:

– All reference frames moving in uniform (non-

accelerating), translational (non-rotating), motion;
are perfectly valid for performing all types of physics
experiments, including experiments with light
(optics)

– The speed of light is constant in any reference frame

12
no matter what its speed
Einstein’s solution in 1905
(On The Electrodynamics of Moving
Bodies)

■ Einstein didn’t have a problem with the physical

descriptions of matter and radiation (light)

■ He did have an issue with how it was measured;

in particular he objected to the classical view of
what were simultaneous events, or
“Simultaneity”

■ Einstein’s two postulates could be rewritten to

say:
– All the laws of physics are the same in every inertial
reference frame (positive statement)
– No test of the laws of physics can distinguish one
inertial reference frame from another (negative
statement)
13
(As a consequence)
 The Effects of Einstein’s
Solution
■ Clocks run slower in the reference
frame of a moving object relative to the
clocks of a reference frame at rest to
the first
■ Clocks slow to ‘zero time’ as its
reference frame, relative to one at rest,
approaches the the speed of light
■ The dimensions of an object shrinks (or
contracts) in its direction of travel
■ An object flattens to a plane as its
reference frame, relative to one at rest,
approaches the speed of light 14
 The Effects of Einstein’s
Solution
■ Time and space are now variable
depending on one’s velocity

■ Time and space are now connected in a

new metric called: Space-Time

■ Whereas space and time may vary,

intervals of Space-Time are invariant
(like light)

■ The speed of light has become a cosmic

conversion factor 15
 Simultaneity

■ To the track-side observer in the middle of the top

picture, both lighting strikes occurred simultaneously
■ To the observer on the middle of the train, in the middle
picture; the front lighting strike occurred first

http://astro.physics.sc.edu/selfpacedunits/Unit56.html
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 Simultaneity

■ In fact, between the on-board observers and the track-

side observers, there is a general disagreement as to
what time the lighting strikes occurred
■ Their clocks are now desynchronized as well

http://astro.physics.sc.edu/selfpacedunits/Unit56.html
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 Simultaneity

■ In order to properly measure something, one must do

the measurement at the same time
■ Observers in the moving reference frame will not with
agree the time, at which, the resting observers
performed the measurement
■ This is because:
– Synchronization of clocks is frame dependent.
Different inertial frame observers will disagree about
proper synchronization
– Simultaneity is a frame dependent concept.
Different inertial frame observers will disagree about
the simultaneity of events separated in space 18
http://astro.physics.sc.edu/selfpacedunits/Unit56.html
 The importance of the
relativistic factor (Gamma)
■ Gamma appears as a velocity based variable
throughout Special Relativity (recall Lorentz)
■ It is the key mathematical solution for telling
us “by how much” does time slow down
(dilate) and space shrinks (contracts)
■ =

■ Gamma grows to infinity as the v approaches

the speed of light, and shrinks to unity when
one approaches rest (see next slide)

19
 The importance of the
relativistic factor (Gamma)

20
The Lorentz Transformation

21
How does the speed of light
affect our experience with
time?
■ When we are rest, we are actually
traveling in the time dimension at the
speed of light

■ When we divert that some of that speed

over the three dimensions of space, i.e.
we go into motion; then we travel
through less time

■ The amount that time slows is a factor of

one’s velocity relative to a reference
frame at rest
22
How does the speed of light
affect our experience with
time?

■ If t’ is the time in the moving

reference frame, then the amount
by which time appears to dilate is
t, shown by the following formula:
t=t’/

23
How does the speed of light
affect our experience with
space?
■ When the two reference frames are rest
relative to each other, their time
dimensions are parallel to each other and
perpendicular their respective space
dimensions (orthogonal)

■ When one of the reference frames goes

into motion, it begins to rotate with
respect the reference frame at rest while
its time dimension must stay orthogonal
to its space dimensions

■ This causes the measuring rod’s ends to

desynchronize with the measuring rod at24
rest causing a visible foreshortening
How does the speed of light
affect our experience with
space?
■ If x’ is the length of a measuring
rod in the moving reference frame,
then the amount by which length
appears to contract is x, shown by
the following formula:
x=x’/

25
 The Lorentz Contraction on Time and
Space

■ Space-Time Diagrams are a graphical tool to show the

effects of the Lorentz Contraction on space and on time.
These diagrams represent a frame of reference at rest,
there is no motion yet.
■ The vertical axis which is time, is labeled ‘ct’ so that the
speed of light can be shown as a 45-degree angle
(slope=1)
26
■ Only the x-axis is shown for simplicity; y and z are
 The Lorentz Contraction on Time and
Space

■ Diagram A shows the original reference frame at

rest (un-primed), and a new one in motion
(primed)
– Try not to think of ct’-axis and x’-axis as contracting in
toward the c-line, but rather rotating about it.
– Say the that ct’-axis is lifting off the slide towards you
as the x’-axis is rotating away from you beneath the
27
plane of the slide
 The Lorentz Contraction on Time and
Space

■ This is the Lorentz Transformation at work

■ Say an event (A) like a pulse of light was heading away
from the origin of both reference frames
■ Diagram A shows how the un-primed frame would
measure it
■ Diagram B shows how the frame in motion would
measure it 28
 The Lorentz Contraction on Time and
Space

■ In both reference frames is one measuring rod at

different times and at rest with respect to its
frame (it only travels in the time dimension)
■ Even though in B, the reference frame is in
motion
■ Note how the rod must always stay parallel to 29
 The Lorentz Contraction on Time and
Space

■ We wish to compare the length of the moving rod with

the one at rest at time ct1
■ During this time both the right and left ends of the
moving rod will be ‘seen’ at different times in the
resting reference frame
30
■ In B, we catch the moving rod at ct1 when its left end is
 Space

■ Because the observer at rest can only measure parallel

to his x-axis at time ct, the extent of his measurement
can only go to the right end’s trajectory path (Diagram
A)
■ He then measures from there straight down (or parallel
to his time axis) to his x-axis (Diagram B) 31
The Lorentz Contraction on Time and
Space

■ At ct2, a moment later, the moving

rod’s right end aligns with the resting
rod’s right end 32
■
The Lorentz Contraction on Time and
Space

■ The same measurement of time shows the aspects of

Time Dilation
■ Even though the clocks were synchronized at the start
they continue to see each other as running slower
because of the requirement to measure parallel to their
own x-axises
33
■ Ct3’ sees ct2 as running slower and ct2 sees ct2’ as
The Addition of Velocities
■ On board an all-glass bus moving at .75c,
a (strong) person throws a ball from the
back of the bus towards the front at a
velocity of .75c relative to the bus
■ How fast would this ball appear to go
relative to an observer at the bus stop
(at rest)?
■ Would they see it travel at 1.5c?
■ No, actually they would see it move at
24/25c (or .96c)
■ In fact, no matter how fast the bus or the
ball was traveling, you will never see an
object hit or exceed the speed of light 34
The Addition of Velocities
■ Because of the addition of relativistic
velocities, you can only approach the
speed of light
■ Einstein used the following formula to
describe this effect; if v1 was the velocity
of the bus and v2 was the velocity of the
ball on board, then V would be the
observed velocity:

V=
35
The Addition of Velocities
■ The reason for what the resting observer
saw:
– The observer would see a foreshortened bus
– The clocks at the back and front of the bus
would be observed as very much out of synch
with each other, and more importantly, out
synch with the observer’s
– The observer would never agree, given the
above conditions, that the ball was traveling
as fast as the person that threw it believed it
36
was going
The Addition of Velocities

■ Here’s the space-time diagram

representation of the addition of
velocities 37
 Relative Mass
(Einstein runs into trouble)
A

■ Say two cars of identical mass, each

traveling at .75c, hit each other head on
■ According to the classical laws of the
conservation of momentum and energy,
the wreckage would come to a complete
halt in front of an Observer A

38
 Relative Mass
(Einstein runs into trouble)
B A

■ Now say an Observer B was traveling along with

the left-vehicle (in its inertial rest frame)
■ He would see the right-vehicle coming at him at a
speed of .96c (Addition of Velocities)
■ At the moment of impact one would assume that
Observer B would see the wreckage go by at half
the closing speed of the two vehicles, or at .48c

39
 Relative Mass
(Einstein runs into trouble)
A B

■ How could Observer B pass the wreckage at .48c

and yet pass Observer A at .75c when Observer A
was at rest to the wreckage?
■ Was Einstein’s addition of velocities wrong, or
was classical physics off (again) at relativistic
speeds?
40
 Relative Mass
(Einstein runs into trouble)
B A

■ Einstein posited that because the right-vehicle

was the one in relative motion, what if it had
gained more mass to push the wreckage passed
Observer B, not at .48c, but at .75c?
■ But how much more mass would be needed?

41
 Relative Mass
(Gamma to the rescue!)
B A
λ
■ How about using Gamma again?

■ Einstein use the equation: m= m’

(m = relativistic mass, m’ = resting mass)
■ And the right-vehicle then had enough mass to
push the wreckage passed Observer B at .75c
■ Although this appears to only be an observational
phenomena, it is actually a measurable fact in 42

particle-colliders with high speed electrons

 Mass and Energy
■ But where did the extra mass
come from?
■ Einstein assumed it came from the
kinetic energy (KE) that the right-
vehicle had gained
■ Kinetic energy was related to the
relativistic mass minus the resting
mass, or: KE = m - m’
43
 Mass and Energy
KE = m - m’
■ KE is measured in units of joules or
kilograms times a meter per
second squared
■ But seconds (time) and meters
(length) get varied at relativistic
speeds
■ Use the speed of light c, as a
conversion factor to get rid of 44
 Mass and Energy
KE = (m - m’)c 2

■ But when an object is at rest, it

must also have a resting energy E,
and no relativistic mass m’, or:

E = mc2

45
 End of Special Relativity
■ Other effects of Special Relativity
– Relativistic Energy
■ Energy gains at higher velocities
– Relativistic Momentum
■ Momentum gains at higher velocities
– Relativistic Aberration
■ How the surrounding star field would appear at higher velocities
– Causality
■ Cause precedes effect as a function of the speed of light
– Light Cones
■ Tool used to show causality and the limit of c
– Minkowski Space
■ A mathematical “trick” to make space-time coordinate
manipulation a little easier 46
 General Relativity
The Motivation
■ Einstein sought to extend Special Relativity to
phenomena including acceleration
■ He wondered if he could modify Newtonian gravity to fit
into SR
■ But Newtonian gravity was (instantaneous) action-at-a-
distance and it was a force
■ And Galileo (and before) understood gravity to
accelerate all different masses at the same rate
(Universality of Free Fall (UFF) 32 ft./sec sec)
■ Einstein thought if F=ma, and ‘a’ is a constant when ‘m’
varies, then how can ‘F’ vary identically with ‘m’ in the
case of gravity?
– Is it really that smart
– Is it really that fast, exceeding the speed of light?
■ Newton said if the Sun were to disappear in an instant,47
the Earth would immediately fly (tangent) out of its
 General Relativity
The Equivalence Principle
■ In 1908 Einstein had another break through via one of his
“thought experiments”:
– Gravitational mass, the property of an object that couples
it with a gravitational field, and Inertial mass, the property
of an object that hinders its acceleration, were identical to
each other
– A reference frame in free fall was indistinguishable from a
reference frame in the void of outer space (or in the
absence of a gravitational field)
– A reference frame, in the void of outer space, being
accelerated ‘up’, was indistinguishable from a reference
frame at rest on the surface of the Earth
■ We can no longer tell the difference between being at rest or
being accelerated
■ Einstein’s new reference frames were now ‘safe’ from effects 48
of acceleration and/or gravity (but they were no longer
 General Relativity
Identifying the Gravitational
Field
■ Next step was to identify the gravitational field
through field equations (but not as a force)
■ Since acceleration was motion, and motion affects
time and space, so must gravity affect time and space
■ In 1912 Einstein realized the the Lorentz
Transformation will not apply to this generalized
setting
■ He also realized that the gravitational field equations
were bound to be non-linear and that the Equivalence
Principle would only hold locally
■ He said: “If all accelerated systems are equivalent,
then Euclidean geometry cannot hold up in all of
them” 49
 General Relativity
Einstein Revisits Geometry
■ With the help of his good friend
Grossman, Einstein researches the
works of:
– Gauss – Theory of surface geometry
– Reimann - Manifold geometry
– Ricci, Levi-Cevita – Tensor calculus and
differential geometry
– Christoffel – Covariant differentiation or
coordinate-free differential calculus
■ Einstein realized that the foundations
(and newly developed aspects) of
geometry have a physical significance 50
 General Relativity
Space-Time is Curved
■ The paths of free-bodies define what we mean
by straight in 4-dimensional space-time
■ And if the observed free-bodies deviate from a
constant velocity, it must mean that space-
time itself, in that locality, is non-linear or
curved
■ In any and every locally Lorentz (inertial)
frame, the laws of SR must hold true
■ The only things which can define the
geometric structure of space-time are the
paths of free-bodies (the Earth or an apple)
51
 General Relativity
The Consequences
■ Euclidean inertial reference frames are
abandoned
■ Only a locally-inertial coordinate system for
extremely small, tangent pieces of flat space-
time (Minkowski) can survive as a reference
frame
■ Reference frames are now in a free-fall
■ Objects in a free-fall follow straight lines in 4-d
space-time known as “Geodesics”
■ In fact, the shortest distance between two
events in space-time is a geodesic, regardless
of how curved the space-time is in between
these two events 52
 General Relativity
Understanding Geodesics
■ A geodesic is the straightest line one can travel through space or
across a surface
■ However in one dimension lower, this “straight line” (or its
shadow) can appear to be curved
■ On curved or spherical surfaces, geodesics are part of a “Great
Circle”
– An airliner that departs from San Francisco for Tokyo, heads
northwest in a straight path to get there. When this path is
traced-out on a 2-d map of the Pacific Ocean (or manifold), it
appears as an arc or curve
– When in an airliner heading west in a straight line through 3-d
space, one can see its 2-d shadow deflect north and south
across ridges and valleys on the surface of the Earth; the
airliner’s 3-d path is a geodesic
■ So to, does the Earth travel in a geodesic through 4-d space-time
– It appears to travel in a circle (or ellipse) in the lower 3-d space,
53
but in 4-d space-time it never completes a circuit because when
 General Relativity
Tensors
■ Lorentz Transformations can no longer be used
■ In order to perform measurements now, one needs to
“parallel transport “ vectors from free falling reference
frames to other reference frames, along geodesics
■ Tensors are the tool of choice to perform these
translations
– Tensors are mathematical “machines” that take in
one or more vectors (say, tangent to an event in
space-time) and put out one or more vectors at
another event in space-time
– If during translation, the vector(s) gets stretched, re-
directed or torsion is applied (twisted); then the
tensor must output this result (linearly) as: another
vector, scalar, or even another tensor
■ If one pokes a toy gyroscope in a linear fashion (torque);54
the gyro will eventually re-align itself in a different
 General Relativity
Einstein’s Tensors
■ Einstein’s success in General Relativity was attributable to his
use of various tensors to describe his gravitational field
equations. In addition to his own, the Einstein Tensor, he used
the following tensors:
■ Riemann Curvature Tensor, which was made up of:
– Ricci Tensor – which curls or curves up in the presence of
energy/matter
– Weyl Tensor - which is similar to the the electromagnetic-field tensor
and as a result, it can be used in the Maxwell equations as “medium”
to propagate gravity as a wave (at the speed of light) across the
voids of space. Also, this tensor only curls locally in the presence of
a spinning mass (frame-dragging)
■ Stress-Energy (or Energy-Momentum) Tensor
– This tensor represents the source of gravity, the distribution and flow
of energy and its momentum
■ Metric Tensor 55
– Einstein’s “canvas” on which these other tensors will interact. It is
 General Relativity
Gravitational Field Equations
Einstein’s Gravitational Field Equation:

■ The Ricci Tensor

■ The Ricci Scalar (these two define curvature)
■ The Metric Tensor
■ Einstein’s Cosmological Constant
■ The Coupling Constant containing Newton’s Gravitational
Constant ‘G’
56
■ The Stress-Energy Tensor (this defines matter)
 General Relativity
Gravitational Field Equations

■ The left side of equation tells us how

space-time curves (is also the same as the
Einstein Tensor)
■ The right side tells us about the matter
present
(in other words)
■ Matter (energy) tells space-time how
much to curve, and the curvature of
space-time tells matter how to move 57
 General Relativity
Solutions to the Field
Equations
■ The Schwarzschild Solution:
– For concentrated mass, give the radius of a
massive object as it becomes a black hole
■ The Friedman Solution
– Gives the solution for a homogenous,
isotropic universe which has an origin as
well as a fate
■ Gravitational Waves
– Gravitational waves are a prediction just like
Maxwell’s “field equations” predicted
electromagnetic waves
58
 General Relativity
Other Solutions and Proofs
1. Mercury’s perihelion rotates 43” every century
2. Light at every frequency can be bent by gravity
3. Gravitational red shift can occur
4. Clocks run slower in a strong gravitational field
5. Gravitational Mass and Inertial Mass are identical
6. Black Holes exist
7. Gravity has it’s own form of radiation
8. Spinning bodies can rotate the space-time near them
“Frame-dragging”
9. Spinning bodies can create an electrical like attraction
“Gravito-magnetism”
10. Space can stretch during the expansion of the
universe
59
 Thank You
■ Questions and Answers

For a copy of this presentation,

email:

Lumbarge@ford.com
60