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Definition of the Lorentz factor γ. 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 ...
Notations commonly used are or or where is the Lorentz factor, = / and is the speed of light. The energy of an ultrarelativistic particle is almost completely due to its kinetic energy E k = ( γ − 1 ) m c 2 {\displaystyle E_{k}=(\gamma -1)mc^{2}} .
where v is the relative velocity between frames in the x-direction, c is the speed of light, and = (lowercase gamma) is the Lorentz factor. Here, v is the parameter of the transformation, for a given boost it is a constant number, but can take a continuous range of values.
Relation between the speed and the Lorentz factor γ (and hence the time dilation of moving clocks). Time dilation as predicted by special relativity is often verified by means of particle lifetime experiments. According to special relativity, the rate of a clock C traveling between two synchronized laboratory clocks A and B, as seen by a ...
The prime examples of such four-vectors are the four-position and four-momentum of a particle, and for fields the electromagnetic tensor and stress–energy tensor. The fact that these objects transform according to the Lorentz transformation is what mathematically defines them as vectors and tensors; see tensor for a definition.
Lorentz considered local time not to be "real"; rather, it represented an ad hoc change of variable. [9]: 51, 80 Impressed by Lorentz's "most ingenious idea", Poincaré saw more in local time than a mere mathematical trick. It represented the actual time that would be shown on a moving observer's clocks.
Time dilation by the Lorentz factor was predicted by several authors at the turn of the 20th century. [3] [4] Joseph Larmor (1897) wrote that, at least for those orbiting a nucleus, individual electrons describe corresponding parts of their orbits in times shorter for the [rest] system in the ratio: . [5]
In this example the time measured in the frame on the vehicle, t, is known as the proper time. The proper time between two events - such as the event of light being emitted on the vehicle and the event of light being received on the vehicle - is the time between the two events in a frame where the events occur at the same location.