Special Relativity

This textbook develops Special Relativity in a systematic way and offers problems with detailed solutions to empower students to gain a real understanding of this core subject in physics. This new edition has been thoroughly updated and has new sections on relativistic fluids, relativistic kinematics and on four-acceleration. The problems and solution section has been significantly expanded and short history sections have been included throughout the book.

The approach is structural in the sense that it develops Special Relativity in Minkowski space following the parallel steps as the development of Newtonian Physics in Euclidian space. A second characteristic of the book is that it discusses the mathematics of the theory independently of the physical principles, so that the reader will appreciate their role in the development of the physical theory.

The book is intended to be used both as a textbook for an advanced undergraduate teaching course in Special Relativity but also as a reference book for the future.

Offers a consolidated unit of math, physics and application examples, with a distinction between the mathematics of Minkowski space and the physics of relativity Devotes a complete chapter to discuss Euclidean space times - an essential introduction given early Presents the relativistic collisions in a new geometric way and prepares the student for the next steps into Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity Provides a full overview of the mathematics needed to understand special relativity

Autorentext

Prof. Dr. Michale Tsamparlis received his PhD from Imperial College in London and has more than 35 years of teaching experience at Imperial college (UK) and the universities of Witwatersrand (South Africa) and Athens (Greece). His research is focused on General Relativity, Gravitation and Cosmology.

Inhalt
Mathematical Part.- The Structure of the Theories of Physics.- Newtonian Physics.- The Foundation of Special Relativity.- The Physics of the Position Four-Vector.- Relativistic Kinematics.- Four-Acceleration.- Paradoxes.- Mass Four-Momentum.- Relativistic Reactions.- Four-Force.- Irreducible Decompositions.- The Electromagnetic Field.- Relativistic Angular Momentum.- The Covariant Lorentz Transformation.- Geometric Description of Relativistic Interactions.