Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In physics and mathematics, the Lorentz group is the group of all Lorentz transformations of Minkowski spacetime, the classical and quantum setting for all (non-gravitational) physical phenomena. The Lorentz group is named for the Dutch physicist Hendrik Lorentz. For example, the following laws, equations, and theories respect Lorentz symmetry:
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 ...
If C ≠ 0, this is an inhomogeneous Lorentz transformation or Poincaré transformation. [24] [25] If C = 0, this is a homogeneous Lorentz transformation. Poincaré transformations are not dealt further in this article.
Lorentz transformations can be parametrized by rapidity φ for a boost in the direction of a three-dimensional unit vector ^ = (,,), and a rotation angle θ about a three-dimensional unit vector ^ = (,,) defining an axis, so ^ = (,,) and ^ = (,,) are together six parameters of the Lorentz group (three for rotations and three for boosts). The ...
The action of the Lorentz group on the space of field configurations (a field configuration is the spacetime history of a particular solution, e.g. the electromagnetic field in all of space over all time is one field configuration) resembles the action on the Hilbert spaces of quantum mechanics, except that the commutator brackets are replaced ...
The covariant formulation of classical electromagnetism refers to ways of writing the laws of classical electromagnetism (in particular, Maxwell's equations and the Lorentz force) in a form that is manifestly invariant under Lorentz transformations, in the formalism of special relativity using rectilinear inertial coordinate systems.
In electromagnetism, the Lorenz condition is generally used in calculations of time-dependent electromagnetic fields through retarded potentials. [2] The condition is , =, where is the four-potential, the comma denotes a partial differentiation and the repeated index indicates that the Einstein summation convention is being used.
An equation is said to be Lorentz covariant if it can be written in terms of Lorentz covariant quantities (confusingly, some use the term invariant here). The key property of such equations is that if they hold in one inertial frame, then they hold in any inertial frame; this follows from the result that if all the components of a tensor vanish ...