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A four-vector A is a vector with a "timelike" component and three "spacelike" components, and can be written in various equivalent notations: [3] = (,,,) = + + + = + = where A α is the magnitude component and E α is the basis vector component; note that both are necessary to make a vector, and that when A α is seen alone, it refers strictly to the components of the vector.
If the object has mass, so that its speed is necessarily less than the speed of light, the world line may be parametrized by the proper time of the object. The four-velocity is the rate of change of four-position with respect to the proper time along the curve. The velocity, in contrast, is the rate of change of the position in (three ...
In non-inertial coordinates, which include accelerated coordinates in special relativity and all coordinates in general relativity, the acceleration four-vector is related to the four-velocity through an absolute derivative with respect to proper time.
Log-log plot of γ (blue), v/c (cyan), and η (yellow) versus proper velocity w/c (i.e. momentum p/mc).Note that w/c is tracked by v/c at low speeds and by γ at high speeds. The dashed red curve is γ − 1 (kinetic energy K/mc 2), while the dashed magenta curve is the relativistic Doppler factor.
Under the total derivative with respect to proper time, the first term is the relativistic momentum, ... Also, A μ is the electromagnetic 4-vector potential.
Figure 2–8. The invariant hyperbola comprises the points that can be reached from the origin in a fixed proper time by clocks traveling at different speeds. Fig. 2-8 illustrates the invariant hyperbola for all events that can be reached from the origin in a proper time of 5 meters (approximately 1.67 × 10 −8 s). Different world lines ...
The arclength parameter is called proper time and usually denoted τ. The length of M is called the proper time of the particle. If the worldline M is a line segment, then the particle is said to be in free fall. [1]: 62–63 A world line traces out the path of a single point in spacetime.
The four-force is defined as the rate of change in the four-momentum of a particle with respect to the particle's proper time.Hence,: =. For a particle of constant invariant mass >, the four-momentum is given by the relation =, where = (,) is the four-velocity.