2004/12/31 by E. Minguzzi · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Geophysics and Sensor Technology #Planetary Science and Exploration #Relativity and Gravitational Theory #gr-qc #physics.class-ph #physics.gen-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1119/1.2060716
published as Am.J.Phys. 73 (2005) 1117-1121 · Revtex4, 6 pages, 1 figure
openalex publication_date 2005/11/29 · arxiv created 2005/12/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We give a closed expression for the Minkowski (1+1)-dimensional metric in the radar coordinates of an arbitrary non-inertial observer O in terms of O's proper acceleration. Knowledge of the metric allows the non-inertial observer to perform experiments in spacetime without making reference to inertial frames. To clarify the relation between inertial and non-inertial observers the coordinate transformation between radar and inertial coordinates, also is given. We show that every conformally flat coordinate system can be regarded as the radar coordinate system of a suitable observer for a suitable parametrization of the observer worldline. Therefore, the coordinate transformation between arbitrarily moving observers is a conformal transformation and conformally invariant (1+1)-dimensional theories lead to the same physics for all observers, independently of their relative motion.