Relativity in Rotating Frames: Relativistic Physics in Rotating Reference Frames

Description

Even if the subject is a long-standing one, this is the first monograph on this field. On the one hand, this book is intended to give a rather wide review on this field, both in a historical and pedagogical perspective; on the other hand, it aims at critically re-examining and discussing the most controversial issues. For instance, according to some authors the celebrated Sagnac effect is a disproval of the theory of relativity applied to rotating frames; according to others, it is an astonishing experimental evidence of the relativistic theory. In order to give the reader a deeper insight into this research field, the contributing authors discuss their opinions on the main subjects in an enthralling virtual round table: in this way, the reader can get a direct comparison of the various viewpoints on the most controversial and interesting topics. This is particularly expedient, since the differences in the various approaches are often based upon subtleties that can be understood only by a direct comparison of the underlying hypotheses Front Matter....Pages i-xxiii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Uniform Rotation of Rigid Bodies and the Theory of Relativity....Pages 3-4 The Existence of the Luminiferous Ether Demonstrated by Means of the Effect of a Relative Ether Wind in an Uniformly Rotating Interferometer....Pages 5-7 Front Matter....Pages 9-9 The Sagnac Effect in the Global Positioning System....Pages 11-28 Space, Time and Coordinates in a Rotating World....Pages 29-42 The Hypothesis of Locality and Its Limitations....Pages 43-55 Sagnac Effect: End of the Mystery....Pages 57-77 Synchronization and Desynchronization on Rotating Platforms....Pages 79-102 Toward a Consistent Theory of Relativistic Rotation....Pages 103-137 Elementary Considerations of the Time and Geometry of Rotating Reference Frames....Pages 139-153 Local and Global Anisotropy in the Speed of Light....Pages 155-165 Isotropy of the Velocity of Light and the Sagnac Effect....Pages 167-178 The Relativistic Sagnac Effect: Two Derivations....Pages 179-220 Inertial Forces: The Special Relativistic Assessment....Pages 221-239 Eppur, Si Muove!....Pages 241-260 Does Anything Happen on a Rotating Disk?....Pages 261-273 Proper Co-Ordinates of Non-Inertial Observers and Rotation....Pages 275-284 Space Geometry in Rotating Reference Frames: A Historical Appraisal....Pages 285-333 Quantum Physics in Inertial and Gravitational Fields....Pages 335-359 Quantum Mechanics in a Rotating Frame....Pages 361-370 On Rotating Spacetimes....Pages 371-379 Back Matter....Pages 381-456