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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 ...
At any time after t = t′ = 0, xx′ is not zero, so dividing both sides of the equation by xx′ results in =, which is called the "Lorentz factor". When the transformation equations are required to satisfy the light signal equations in the form x = ct and x′ = ct′, by substituting the x and x'-values, the same technique produces the same ...
The Lorentz factor γ retains its definition for a boost in any direction, since it depends only on the magnitude of the relative velocity. The definition β = v / c with magnitude 0 ≤ β < 1 is also used by some authors.
The following notations are used very often in special relativity: Lorentz factor = where = and v is the relative velocity between two inertial frames.. For two frames at rest, γ = 1, and increases with relative velocity between the two inertial frames.
Replacing the Lorentz factor in the original formula leads to the relation = / In this equation both and are measured parallel to the object's line of movement. For the observer in relative movement, the length of the object is measured by subtracting the simultaneously measured distances of both ends of the object.
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]
Another useful formalism is four-acceleration, as its components can be connected in different inertial frames by a Lorentz transformation. Also equations of motion can be formulated which connect acceleration and force. Equations for several forms of acceleration of bodies and their curved world lines follow from these formulas by integration.
Calculating the Minkowski norm squared of the four-momentum gives a Lorentz invariant quantity equal (up to factors of the speed of light c) to the square of the particle's proper mass: = = = + | | = where = is the metric tensor of special relativity with metric signature for definiteness chosen to be (–1, 1, 1, 1).