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It may include a rotation of space; a rotation-free Lorentz transformation is called a Lorentz boost. In Minkowski space—the mathematical model of spacetime in special relativity—the Lorentz transformations preserve the spacetime interval between any two events. This property is the defining property of a Lorentz transformation.
In the fundamental branches of modern physics, namely general relativity and its widely applicable subset special relativity, as well as relativistic quantum mechanics and relativistic quantum field theory, the Lorentz transformation is the transformation rule under which all four-vectors and tensors containing physical quantities transform from one frame of reference to another.
Such formulas apply to successive Lorentz transformations, so they also relate different frames. Accompanying velocity addition is a kinematic effect known as Thomas precession, whereby successive non-collinear Lorentz boosts become equivalent to the composition of a rotation of the coordinate system and a boost.
In order to find out the transformation of three-acceleration, one has to differentiate the spatial coordinates and ′ of the Lorentz transformation with respect to and ′, from which the transformation of three-velocity (also called velocity-addition formula) between and ′ follows, and eventually by another differentiation with respect to and ′ the transformation of three-acceleration ...
Lorentz boost of an electric charge. Top: The charge is at rest in frame F , so this observer sees a static electric field. An observer in another frame F ′ moves with velocity v relative to F , and sees the charge move with velocity − v with an altered electric field E due to length contraction and a magnetic field B due to the motion of ...
The Lorentz factor or Lorentz term (also known as the gamma factor [1]) is a dimensionless quantity expressing how much the measurements of time, length, and other physical properties change for an object while it moves. The expression appears in several equations in special relativity, and it arises in derivations of the Lorentz transformations.
In physics and mathematics, the Lorentz group is the group of all Lorentz transformations of Minkowski spacetime, the classical and quantum setting for all (non-gravitational) physical phenomena. The Lorentz group is named for the Dutch physicist Hendrik Lorentz. For example, the following laws, equations, and theories respect Lorentz symmetry:
The simplicity of this formula contrasts with the complexity of the corresponding velocity-addition formula. As we can see from the Lorentz transformation above, the Lorentz factor identifies with cosh w = / , so the rapidity w is implicitly used as a hyperbolic angle in the Lorentz transformation expressions using γ and β.