Terms

Length contraction - When an object is moving with constant velocity v with

respect to an inertial observer its length in the direction of motion is contracted by a
factor
. The dimensions of the object perpendicular to the direction of
motion are unaffected. This effect occurs at all velocities but only becomes
apparent at velocities close to c , the speed of light.
Time dilation - When an observer is moving with constant velocity v with respect
to an inertial observer the clock of the moving observer appears to tick more slowly
than that of the observer at rest. In other words, to the observer at rest the moving
observer's time appears dilated. This means that the moving observers seconds are
longer and hence they will measure less time between any two events by an
amount proportional to

Correspondence principle - We know that Newton's laws and classical

mechanics do a very good job of explaining and predicting motion at everyday
speeds. Thus we would hope that any new theory which we introduce would not
completely overturn the classical results when low velocities are involved. Thus we
insist that theories such as Special Relativity (or Quantum Mechanics) 'overlap' with
the results of classical physics in the appropriate limits and regimes (such as when
v < < c ). In other words, the formulas of Special Relativity should reduce to the
classical formulas in the limit v < < c . Only in this way can there be no
contradiction between the theories (we wouldn't want them to contradict each other
because we know classical mechanics does a good job for most purposes). This idea
is called the correspondence principle.
Reference frame - A reference frame can be thought of as a set of coordinate
axes (plus a clock) moving along with an object. Reference frame is used
synonymously with 'rest frame', the reference frame in which an object is at rest
(that is, stationary). The set of axes associated with a body or point provides a
consistent way of looking at the world and making measurements; distances are
measured according to the difference between ordinates and time measured by the
number of ticks of the clock. Objects with different frames of reference will measure
physical quantities, such as velocities, differently.
Ether - An incorporeal and undetectable medium through which physicists at the
end of the nineteenth century believed light traveled. The ether was supposed to
not only provide a medium for light but also to be a sort of absolute reference frame
in which the laws of physics held exactly (especially Maxwell's equations) and the
speed of light was c . Any reference frame in motion with respect to the ether
should observe a variation in the speed of light with direction; Michelson and
Morley's careful experiments could observe no such difference.
Relativity principle - One of the postulates or fundamental principles of Special
Relativity that states that any two inertial reference frames are equivalent. This
means that a measurement made in any inertial reference frame is just as valid as a
measurement made in any other. Moreover, there is no such thing as an absolute

reference frame and therefore no such thing as absolute motion; any motion can
only be described as motion relative to some other inertial reference frame. Many of
the results of Special Relativity can be deduced from this postulate.
Lorentz transformation - The equations that relate intervals in space and time
(distance and time intervals measured in a particular frame) between two events in
one frame to the space and time intervals in another frame moving with speed v in
the x -direction with respect to the first frame. An 'event' is anything that can be
given a particular spacetime coordinate: a location and a point in time. If the space
and time intervals measured in the moving frame are the primed variables then the
Lorentz transformations are:

x = (x' + vt')
t = (t' + vx'/c 2)
y = y' , z = z'

Galilean transformation - The equations of classical mechanics which relate the

time and distance between two events occurring in one frame to those another
moving with speed v in the x -direction. If the primed coordinates correspond to the
moving frame, then:

t = t'
x = x' + vt'
y = y'
z = z'

Spacetime - In relativity it is often useful to think of space and time as a single

entity or four-dimensional space, with three spatial dimensions and one dimension
of time. When thought of as a four-dimensional coordinate system a Lorentz
transformation between frames is equivalent to a rotation of these spacetime
coordinates. The concept of spacetime neatly captures the interconnectedness of
space and time in relativity.
Minkowski diagram - A diagram is drawn with an x -axis and a ct -axis at 90 o .
The path of any object through one dimensional space and time can be plotted on
the diagram. A Lorentz transformation corresponds to a rotation of the axes to x'
and ct' where the amount of rotation can be precisely calculated if the speed v is
known. The path of an object remain the same as the coordinates are rotated

underneath it, so a Minkowski diagram is useful for seeing schematically what the
effect of a Lorentz transformation is.
Velocity addition formula - The Special Relativistic formula that relates the
speed of an object in one frame to its speed in another. If an object is traveling with
speed v in frame A that is moving with speed w with respect to frame B, the speed
of the object, u , as measured in B is:
u=

Worldline - The path of a particle plotted on a Minkowski diagram is called its

worldline.
Formulae

For events occurring at the

same place in A's frame:

= t

For events occurring at the

same time in A's frame:

= l B/ .

The inverse Lorentz

transformations are:

x' = (x - vt)

t' = (t - vx/c 2)