Physical Relativity: Space-Time Structure from a Dynamical Perspective.pdf

【实例截图】物理相对论：动力学视角下的时空结构

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Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgements x
1. Overview 1
1.1 When the Whole Rigmarole Began 1
1.2 FitzGerald, Michelson, and Heaviside 2
1.3 Einstein 4
1.4 FitzGerald and Bell’s ‘Lorentzian Pedagogy’ 5
1.5 What Space-time Is not 8
1.6 Final Remarks 10
2. The Physics of Coordinate Transformations 11
2.1 Space-time and Its Coordinatization 11
2.2 Inertial Coordinate Systems 14
2.2.1 Free particles 15
2.2.2 Inertial coordinates 16
2.2.3 Newtonian time 18
2.2.4 Newtonian space 22
2.2.5 The role of space-time geometry 23
2.2.6 Quantum probes 25
2.3 The Linearity of Inertial Coordinate Transformations 26
2.4 The Rod and Clock Protocols 28
3. The Relativity Principle and the Fable of Albert Keinstein 33
3.1 The Relativity Principle: the Legacy of Galileo and Newton 33
3.1.1 Galileo 33
3.1.2 Newton 35
3.2 The Non-sequitur in Newton’s Corollary V 37
3.3 Keinstein’s 1705 Derivation 38
3.4 The Dynamics–Kinematics Connection 40
4. The Trailblazers 41
4.1 Michelson 42
4.1.1 The Michelson–Morley experiment revisited 43
4.2 Michelson–Morley Kinematics 46
xii Contents
4.3 FitzGerald and Heaviside 48
4.4 Lorentz 52
4.5 Larmor 58
4.6 Poincaré 62
4.7 The Role of the Ether Prior to Einstein 66
5. Einstein’s Principle-theory Approach 69
5.1 Einstein’s Template: Thermodynamics 69
5.2 The Principle vs. Constructive Theory Distinction 71
5.3 Einstein’s Postulates 74
5.3.1 The relativity principle 74
5.3.2 The light postulate 75
5.4 Einstein’s Derivation of the Lorentz Transformations 77
5.4.1 Clock synchrony 77
5.4.2 The k-Lorentz transformations 78
5.4.3 RP and isotropy 78
5.5 Rods and Clocks 80
5.6 The Experimental Evidence for the Lorentz transformations 82
5.6.1 The 1932 Kennedy–Thorndike experiment 82
5.6.2 The situation so far 84
5.6.3 The 1938 Ives–Stilwell experiment 85
5.7 Are Einstein’s Inertial Frames the Same as Newton’s? 87
5.8 Final Remarks 89
6. Variations on the Einstein Theme 91
6.1 Einstein’s Operationalism: Too Much and Too Little? 91
6.2 What is a Clock? 92
6.2.1 The clock hypothesis 94
6.3 The Conventionality of Distant Simultaneity 95
6.3.1 Malament’s 1977 result 98
6.3.2 The Edwards–Winnie synchrony-general transformations 102
6.4 Relaxing the Light Postulate: the Ignatowski Transformations 105
6.4.1 Comments 109
6.5 The Non-relativistic Limit 110
7. Unconventional Voices on Special Relativity 113
7.1 Einstein himself 113
7.2 1918: Hermann Weyl 114
7.3 1920s: Pauli and Eddington 118
7.4 1930s and 1940s: W. F. G. Swann 119
7.5 1970s: L. Jánossy and J. S. Bell 122
7.5.1 L. Jánossy 122
Contents xiii
7.5.2 J. S. Bell. Conceptual issues 124
7.5.3 Historical niceties 126
8. What is Special Relativity? 128
8.1 Minkowski’s Geometrization of SR 128
8.1.1 Kinematics 129
8.1.2 Dynamics 131
8.2 Minkowski Space-time: the Cart or the Horse? 132
8.2.1 The cases of configuration and ‘kinematic’ space 134
8.2.2 The projective Hilbert space 135
8.2.3 Carathéodory: the Minkowski of thermodynamics 136
8.3 What does Absolute Geometry Explain? 139
8.3.1 The space-time ‘explanation’ of inertia 140
8.3.2 Mystery of mysteries 143
8.4 What is Special Relativity? 144
8.4.1 The big principle 145
8.4.2 Quantum theory 147
9. The View from General Relativity 150
9.1 Introduction 150
9.2 The Field Equations 151
9.2.1 The Lovelock–Grigore theorems 151
9.2.2 The threat of underdetermination 154
9.2.3 Matter 156
9.3 Test Particles and the Geodesic Principle 161
9.4 Light and the Null Cones 163
9.4.1 Non-minimal coupling 165
9.5 The Strong Equivalence Principle 169
9.5.1 The local validity of special relativity 169
9.5.2 A recent development 172
9.6 Conclusions 175
Appendix A Einstein on General Covariance 178
Appendix B Special Relativity and Quantum Theory 182
B.1 Introduction 182
B.2 Entanglement, Non-Locality, and Bell Inequalities 183
B.3 Einstein, Relativity, and Separability 187
B.4 Non-locality, or Its Absence, in the Everett Intepretation 190
Bibliography 193
Index 211