Relativity and the nature of spacetime
By: V. Petkov.
Edition: 1st ed.
Series: Frontiers collection
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published: 2005
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 293
ISBN-13: 9783540238898
Subjects: Space and time.
Description: "The most important question addressed in this book is "what is the nature (the ontological status) of spacetime?" or, equivalently, "what is the dimensionality of the world at the macroscopic level?" The answer to this question is developed via a thorough analysis of relativistic effects and explicitly asking whether the objects involved in those effects are three-dimensional or four-dimensional. This analysis clearly shows that if the world and the physical objects were three-dimensional, none of the kinematic relativistic effects and the experimental evidence supporting them would be possible. The implications of this result for physics, philosophy, and our entire world view are discussed."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

1
Table of contents: title: 1. Introduction; title: 2. On the impossibility of detecting uniform motion; title: 3. Exploring the internal logic of Galileo's principle of relativity; title: 4. Relativity in Euclidean space and in spacetime; title: 5. Relativity and the dimensionality of the world : spacetime is real; title: 6. Quantum mechanics and the nature of spacetime; title: 7. The nature of spacetime and validity of scientific theories; title: 8. Propagation of light in non-inertial reference frames; title: 9. Calculating the electric field of a charge in a non-inertial reference frame; title: 10. Intertia as a manifestation of the reality of spacetime; title: A. Classical electromagnetic mass theory and the arguments against it; title: B. Calculation of the self-force.