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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 ...
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.
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}} .
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 ...
is called the Lorentz factor and c is the speed of light in free space. Lorentz factor (γ) is the same in both systems. The inverse transformations are the same except for the substitution v → −v. An equivalent, alternative expression is: [3]
The two forces differ by the Lorentz factor γ. This difference is expected in a relativistic theory, however, due to the change in space-time between frames, as discussed next. Relativity takes the Lorentz transformation of space-time suggested by invariance of Maxwell's equations and imposes it upon dynamics as well (a revision of Newton's ...
To explain all experiments conducted before 1904, Lorentz was forced to again expand his theory by introducing the complete Lorentz transformation. Henri Poincaré declared in 1905 that the impossibility of demonstrating absolute motion ( principle of relativity ) is apparently a law of nature.
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.