Simultaneity, convention, and gauge freedom

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 43 (2):90-94 (2012)
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Abstract

As is well know from Einstein the choice of a criterion for distant simultaneity is equivalent to stipulating one-way speeds for the transit of light. It is shown that any choice of non-standard synchrony is equivalent to a Lorentz local time boost. From this and considerations from the hole argument, it follows that there is a non-trivial sense in which distant simultaneity is conventional, at least to the extent that the “gauge freedom” arising in the hole argument is non-trivial

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2012-08-27

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Robert Rynasiewicz
Johns Hopkins University

Citations of this work

Conventionality of simultaneity.Allen Janis - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Perspectivism and Special Relativity.Mahdi Khalili - 2021 - Teorie Vědy / Theory of Science 43 (2):191-217.
Reality in Perspectives.Mahdi Khalili - 2022 - Dissertation, Vu University Amsterdam

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References found in this work

What price spacetime substantivalism? The hole story.John Earman & John Norton - 1987 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 38 (4):515-525.
Philosophie der Raum-Zeit-Lehre.Hans Reichenbach - 1928 - Annalen der Philosophie Und Philosophischen Kritik 7:21-22.
Philosophical Problems of Space and Time.V. F. Lenzen - 1975 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 36 (1):127-129.

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