ENGLISH

Relativity and the nature of spacetime

By Petkov , Vesselin

Book information

Publisher
Springer
Year
2009
ISBN
3642019528, 978-3-642-01952-4, 978-3-642-01962-3, 3642019625
DOI
10.1007/978-3-642-01962-3
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
2 MB (1798510 bytes)
Series
Frontiers collection
Edition
2ed.
Pages
316\332
Library
kolxoz
Time added
2016-05-22 07:20:00
Classical and Quantum GravitationRelativity Theory;Philosophy;Mathematical Methods

Description

Puts the emphasis on conceptual questions: Why is there no such thing as absolute motion? What is the physical meaning of relativity of simultaneity? But, the most important question that is addressed in this book is "what is the nature of spacetime?" or, equivalently, "what is the dimensionality of the world at the macroscopic level?" Develops answers to these questions via a thorough analysis of relativistic effects and explicitly asking whether the objects involved in those effects are three-dimensional or four-dimensional. Discusses the implication of the result (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) for physics, philosophy, and our entire world view are discussed.

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