Relativity and the nature of spacetime

Vesselin Petkov (auth.)9783642019524, 3642019528

The most important question that is 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. This new edition has been significantly expanded with new sections, appendices, notes and references. The arguments of the previous edition are strengthened; new developments in the field are presented and integrated to yield a thoroughly convincing and clear treatment.

Table of contents :
Front Matter….Pages i-xii
Introduction….Pages 1-9
Front Matter….Pages 10-11
On the Impossibility of Detecting Uniform Motion….Pages 15-27
Exploring the Internal Logic of Galileo’s Principle of Relativity….Pages 29-53
Relativity in Euclidean Space and in Spacetime….Pages 55-116
Front Matter….Pages 118-120
Relativity and the Dimensionality of the World: Spacetime Is Real….Pages 121-152
Why Is the Issue of the Nature of Spacetime So Important?….Pages 153-175
Front Matter….Pages 178-182
Propagation of Light in Non-Inertial Reference Frames….Pages 183-220
Calculating the Electric Field of a Charge in a Non-Inertial Reference Frame….Pages 221-236
Inertia as a Manifestation of the Reality of Spacetime….Pages 237-264
Spacetime and the Nature of Quantum Objects….Pages 265-276
Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C, Appendix D….Pages 277-299
Back Matter….Pages 1-16