Formalism to deal with Reichenbach's special theory of relativity

Foundations of Physics 21 (6):691-726 (1991)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

The objective of this article is to provide a formalism to deal with the special theory of relativity (STR, in short) as riewed by Reichenbach, according to which STR involves an ineradicableconventionality of simultaneity. One of the two postulates of STR asserts that, in empty space, the one-way speed of light relative to inertial frames is constant. Experimental evidence, however, is related to the constancy of the round-trip speed of light and has no bearing on one-way speeds. Following Reichenbach's viewpoint, we relax the second postulate of STR, abandoning the constancy of the one-way speed of light to the more realistic one asserting the constancy of the round-trip speed of light. This, in turn, results in a formalism to deal with Reichenbach's special theory of relativity (RSTR, in short) in which the two one-way speeds of light in empty space, C±, in the two senses of a round-trip are arbitrarily selected in such a way that their harmonic mean is the measurable round-trip speed of light, c. Experimentally, RSTR and STR are indistinguishable and, hence, represent the same physical theory. It is only the formalism that we use to deal with STR which is extended in RSTR to accommodate the immeasurability of one-way velocities. The usefulness of the proposed formalism to study special relativity is demonstrated

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Gibson's ambient light and light speed constancy.David Grandy - 2012 - Philosophical Psychology 25 (4):1-16.
Conventionalism in special relativity.Peter Mittelstaedt - 1977 - Foundations of Physics 7 (7-8):573-583.

Analytics

Added to PP
2013-11-22

Downloads
32 (#431,931)

6 months
8 (#158,054)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

The conventionality of simultaneity in the light of the spinor representation of the lorentz group.Vassilios Karakostas - 1997 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 28 (2):249-276.
Twin Paradox without One-Way Velocity Assumptions.Martin Schön - 1998 - Foundations of Physics 28 (2):185-204.
The conventionality of simultaneity in the light of the spinor representation of the lorentz group.Vassilios Karakostas - 1997 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 28 (2):249-276.

View all 6 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science.Hermann Weyl - 1949 - Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Edited by Olaf Helmer-Hirschberg & Frank Wilczek.
The mathematical theory of relativity.Arthur Stanley Eddington - 1923 - Cambridge [Eng.]: The University Press.
Axiomatization of the Theory of Relativity.Hans Reichenbach - 1969 - Berkeley: University of California Press. Edited by Maria Reichenbach.

View all 17 references / Add more references