2020/07/14 by E.L. Saldin, Saldin, Evgeny
Physics and Astronomy · #Accelerator Physics (physics.acc-ph) #Classical Physics (physics.class-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #History and Developments in Astronomy #Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) #Quantum and Classical Electrodynamics #Relativity and Gravitational Theory
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2007.07780
openalex publication_date 2020/07/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
There are many books on the classical subject of special relativity. However, after having spent a number of years, both in relativistic engineering and research with relativity, I have come to the conclusion that there exist a place for a new book. I do believe that the present book is not quite the same as the others, mainly due to attempt to cast light on dark corners. I should make it clear what this little book is not. It is not a textbook on relativity theory. What the book is about is the nature of special relativistic kinematics, its relation to space and time, and the operational interpretation of coordinate transformations. Every theory contains a number of quantities that can be measured by experiment and an expressions that cannot possibly be observed. Whenever we have a theory containing an arbitrary convention, we should examine what parts of the theory depend on the choice of that convention and what parts do not. The distinction is not always made and many authors claim some data to be observable, according to arbitrary conventions, which do not correspond to any physical experiment. This leads to inconsistencies and paradoxes that should be avoided at all cost.