While Minkowski space beautifully emphasizes the profound and extremely well-verified independence of space, time, physics, and quantum mechanics from the inertial frame of the observer, this same strength for expressing symmetry makes it difficult to develop a clear, fully formal framework for analyzing the details of interactions of objects indifferent frames, with the Twin Paradox being the simplest and most widely quoted example. In this presentation, I show how tracking the origination of objects in accelerated frames permits fully formal descriptions of the metrical states of objects in other frames, which in turn provides precise predictions of how internal clocks and rulers interact in events such as relativistic collisions. Surprisingly, the resulting single-frame, mixed-velocity mappings are extremely simple, allowing analysis of complicated relativistic events using compass and ruler methods available to young students.
Speaker:
Terry Bollinger is a computer scientist with BS, MS, and Professional Degrees from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.
