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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}} .
Lorentz factor as a function of speed (in natural units where c = 1). Notice that for small speeds (as v tends to zero), γ is approximately 1. In addition to the light clock used above, the formula for time dilation can be more generally derived from the temporal part of the Lorentz transformation. [28]
In theoretical physics, the composition of two non-collinear Lorentz boosts results in a Lorentz transformation that is not a pure boost but is the composition of a boost and a rotation. This rotation is called Thomas rotation , Thomas–Wigner rotation or Wigner rotation .
Thus in calculating the relative proper speed, Lorentz factors multiply when coordinate speeds add. Hence each of two electrons (A and C) in a head-on collision at 45 GeV in the lab frame (B) would see the other coming toward them at v AC ~ c and w AC = 88,000 2 (1 + 1) ~ 1.55×10 10 lightseconds per traveler second.
The relations between the primed and unprimed spacetime coordinates are the Lorentz transformations, each coordinate in one frame is a linear function of all the coordinates in the other frame, and the inverse functions are the inverse transformation. Depending on how the frames move relative to each other, and how they are oriented in space ...
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.
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.