INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,

MANDI

UNVEILING THE SPECIAL

THEORY OF RELATIVITY

By: Msc. Physics (1st Year)

 INDTRODUCTION
• The theory of special relativity explains how space and time are linked for objects
that are moving at a consistent speed in a straight line.
• What if an object moves with a speed which is comparable to speed of light?
• In 1905, Albert Einstein changed our perception of the world forever.
• He published the paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies“.
• In this, he presented what is now called the Special Theory of Relativity.

• What was the background to this work?

• What was the new idea that he proposed?

Is Mass is a constant Can Time be Mass Energy

Time Dilation
quantity? different for two Equivalence
different
persons?
 Space-Time
• Einstein reasoned that space and time are two parts of one whole called space-time

• From the viewpoint of special relativity, we travel through a combination space and time
– When we stand still, we are only traveling through the time portion of space-time
– When we move a bit, we travel through both aspects of space-time

• If we could somehow travel through space at the speed of light, no time would elapse in
our own perspective

• Whenever we move through space, we alter our rate of moving through time
– Time Dilation: The stretching of time an object experiences as it approaches the speed of
light
 Attempts to locate the Absolute Frame –
The Michelson-Morley Experiment

The question as to whether the “ether” frame existed

and the speed of light was measured to be different
in different inertial frames was deemed to be so
important that in 1887 Michelson and Morley
devised an experiment to determine whether this
was the case.
•If an ether exists, the spinning and orbiting earth
should be moving through it. An observer on earth
would sense an “ether wind” whose velocity is v
relative to earth, where v is ~30 km/s (v/c ~ 10-4)
the earth’s orbital speed about the Sun.
•It was Michelson’s invention of the optical
interferometer that provided a device sensitive
enough to make the measurement (1 in 10,000
effect).
Michelson-Morley Experiment:
• The interferometer consists of a beam of light (from
source S) that is split by a partially silvered mirror M
into two coherent beams, beam 1 being transmitted
through M and beam 2 being reflected off M. Beam 1 is
reflected back to M by mirror M1 and beam 2 by mirror
M2. Then the returning beam 1 is reflected and the
returning beam 2 is transmitted by M back to a
telescope T where they interfere. The interference is
constructive or destructive depending on the phase
difference of the beams. If M1 and M2 are very nearly
but not quite at right angles, a fringe pattern is
observed in the telescope (similar to a thin wedge of air
between two glass plates).
• Suppose v is the velocity of the ether with respect to
the interferometer.
 The Michelson-Morley
Experiment Conclusion

•The phase difference between beams 1 and 2 can arise from two causes: (i)different path lengths travelled,
(ii)different speeds of travel with respect to the instrument because of the “ether wind”. The latter is the crucial
one with beam 1 being a ‘up-stream’ and ‘down-stream’ situation, and beam 2 being a ‘cross-stream’ situation.
•If the instrument is rotated by 90°, thereby making beam 1 the cross-stream beam and beam 2 the up-
stream/down-stream beam, it can be shown that this will cause a shift in the fringe pattern, since it changes the
phase relationship between the two beams. The key to detecting this is to make the lengths of the paths the two
beams travel to be as long as is practically possible; M-M were able to achieve path lengths of ~11m.
•The fringe shift is given by N = (2l/)(v/c)2, where l is the path length, and  the wavelength of the light.
Putting in the values for M-M’s experiment, we get N = (22/5.5 x 10-7)(10-4)2 = 0.4  four-tenths of a fringe!!!
•M-M mounted their interferometer on a massive stone slab for stability and floated it in mercury for smooth
rotation. The fringes were observed under a continuous rotation, and observations were made day and night.
•A precision of 0.01 of a fringe was achieved in measuring their shift!
•Despite making observations during all seasons of the year (and hence with the
earth at different locations about the Sun and at different orientations with
respect to the “ether”, NO FRINGE SHIFT WAS OBSERVED! M-M concluded
from their experiment that there was no fringe shift at all.
•This null result (N = 0) was such a blow to the ether hypothesis that the
experiment was repeated many times by different workers over a 50-year period.
The null result was amply confirmed!

Thus, ether does not seem to exist!

 SPACE TIME CURVATURE
NO FORCE THEORY !
A New Perspective On Gravitation
• According to Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity,
gravity is no longer a force that acts on massive bodies, as
viewed by Isaac Newton’s universal gravitation. Instead,
general relativity links gravity to the geometry of spacetime
itself, and particularly to its curvature.
• In classical physics, time proceeds constantly and independently for all objects.
In relativity, spacetime is a four-dimensional continuum combining the familiar
three dimensions of space with the dimension of time.
 Deviation From Classical Assumption.
• To account for gravity in relativity, the structure of this four-dimensional
spacetime must be extended beyond the rules of classical geometry, where
parallel lines never meet and the sum of a triangle’s angles is 180°. In general
relativity, spacetime is not ‘flat’ but is curved by the presence of massive
bodies.

• This artistic representation visualises spacetime as a simplified, two-

dimensional surface, which is being distorted by the presence of three massive
bodies, represented as coloured spheres. The distortion caused by each sphere
is proportional to its mass.

• The curvature of spacetime influences the motion of massive bodies within it;
in turn, as massive bodies move in spacetime, the curvature changes and the
geometry of spacetime is in constant evolution. Gravity then provides a
description of the dynamic interaction between matter and spacetime.
 GENERATION OF GRAVITATIONAL
WAVE.
• A gravitational-wave observatory (or gravitational-wave detector) is any device designed
to measure gravitational waves, tiny distortions of space time that were first predicted
by Einstein in 1916.Gravitational waves are perturbations in the theoretical curvature of
spacetime caused by accelerated masses. The existence of gravitational radiation is a specific
prediction of general relativity.
Einstein's Theory
• Albert Einstein (1879–1955) was only two years old when Michelson reported
his first null measurement for the existence of the ether.

• At the age of 16 Einstein began thinking about the form of Maxwell’s

equations in moving inertial systems.

• In 1905, at the age of 26, he published his startling proposal about the
principle of relativity, which he believed to be fundamental.
Postulates of Einstein’s Theory
With the belief that Maxwell’s equations must be valid in all inertial frames,
Einstein proposes the following postulates:

1) The principle of relativity: The laws of physics are the same in all inertial
systems. There is no way to detect absolute motion, and no preferred inertial
system exists.

2) The constancy of the speed of light: Observers in

all inertial systems measure the same value for the
speed of light in a vacuum.
Speed of light is constant
 LENGTH CONTRACTION
To understand length contraction the idea of proper length must be understood:
• Let an observer in each system K and K’ have a meter stick at rest in their own system such
that each measure the same length at rest.
• The length as measured at rest is called the proper length.
• Length contraction is the phenomenon of a decrease in length
of an object as measured by an observer who is traveling at any
non-zero velocity relative to the object. This contraction (more
formally called Lorentz contraction or Lorentz–FitzGerald
contraction after Hendrik Lorentz and George Francis FitzGerald)
is usually only noticeable at a substantial fraction of the speed
of light. Length contraction is only in the direction parallel to the
direction in which the observed body is travelling.
• The length of any object is contracted in any frame moving with respect to the rest frame of that
object, by a factor 

• Note that there is no contraction of lengths that are perpendicular to the direction of motion
When velocity is much
less than c

When velocity is
around 0.84c

When velocity is
around 0.96c
 TIME DIALTION
• We explore the rate of time in different inertial frames by considering a special kind
of clock – a light clock – which is just one arm of an interferometer. Consider a light
pulse bouncing vertically between two mirrors. We analyze time it takes for the light
pulse to complete a round trip both in the rest frame of the clock (labeled S’), and in
an inertial frame where the clock is observed to move horizontally at a velocity v
(labeled S). In the rest frame S’

• To understand time dilation the idea of proper time must be understood:

• The term proper time,T0, is the time difference between two events occurring at the
same position in a system as measured by a clock at that position.
 v2
t  t  1  2
c

2
v
t  t  1  2
c
 DOPPLER EFFECT
• This phenomenon described by the Austrian physicist Chrostain Doppler.

• The Doppler effect (or the Doppler shift) is the change in frequency or
wavelength of a wave in relation to observer who is moving relative to the
wave source.
A common example of Doppler shift is the
change of pitch heard when a vehicle
sounding a horn approaches and recedes
from an observer. Compared to the
emitted frequency, the received frequency
is higher during the approach, identical at the
instant of passing by, and lower during the recession.

The reason for the Doppler effect is that relative motion b/w source and object.
This apparent change in the frequency of sound
as a result of relative motion between the source
and the observer is the Doppler effect.
The general formula we can use to calculate the apparent frequency

(i) When the source is moving towartds a observer at rest

(ii) When the source is moving away from the observer at rest

(iii) When observer is moving towards the stationary source

(v) When both Source and observer moves towards each other
(vi) When both Source and observer move away from each other

Where, vs = Velocity of the Source,

vo = Velocity of the Observer,
v = Velocity of sound or light in medium,
f = Real frequency,
f' = Apparent frequency.

Doppler effect formula is used to find the apparent frequency and wavelength for the
source moving towards the observer and away from the observer or observer moving
towards the source or away from the source
TWIN PARADOX

• One twin stays at home.

• One twin travels on a spaceship at very high speeds.
• Relativity says traveling twin will age more slowly.
• But one can say the twin on Earth is traveling w.r.t. the
twin in the spaceship and should be the younger.
• This is the paradox. Who is really younger.
• Answer: Traveling twin because of accelerations for
the traveling twin—non inertial frame..
TWIN PARADOX
 LORENTZ VELOCITY TRANSFORMATION
• In physics, the Lorentz transformations (or transformation) are coordinate transformations
between two coordinate frames that move at constant velocity relative to each other. The
transformations are named after the Dutch physicist Hendrik Lorentz.
 VELOCITY ADDITION
• What is meant by relativistic velocity?
Einstein Velocity Addition. The relative velocity of any two objects never exceeds
the velocity of light. Applying the Lorentz transformation to the velocities, expressions are
obtained for the relative velocities as seen by the different observers. They are called
the Einstein velocity addition relationships
The Einstein velocity relationship transforms a measured velocity as seen in one inertial frame of
reference (u) to the velocity as measured in a frame moving at velocity v with respect to it (u'). In
•
problems involving more than two objects, the main difficulty is the assignment of velocity to all
the objects.
If A sees B moving at velocity v, then a velocity measured by B (u')
would be seen by A as:

These relationships make perfect sense at low speeds where both

denominators approach 1.
 RELATIVISTIC RELATIVE VELOCITY
• The speed of light is the speed limit
of the universe, so it follows that no
observer will see any other observer
approaching or receding at a speed
greater than c. But what if observers
A and B are both moving toward
each other with speeds approaching
c as seen by an external observer?
How will A and B measure their
relative speeds? This is an example
of Einstein velocity addition. In the
calculation below, velocities to the
right are taken as positive.
Mass-Energy Equivalence
• The equation E = mc2 is probably the most recognized symbol of
physics.
• This equation tells us that matter and energy are really two forms of
the same thing.
• If you put enough energy in one place, you can create matter.
• If you make matter disappear, you get energy.
• The law of conservation of energy becomes a law of mass-energy
conservation.
• The amount of energy it takes to create a kilogram of matter is
calculated using Einstein’s formula.
Mass-Energy Equivalence
• Nuclear reactions also obey the energy conservation laws.
• The total amount of energy before the reaction has to equal the total amount of energy after
the reaction.
• Energy stored as mass must be included in order to apply the law of conservation of energy
to a nuclear reaction.
• The energy from mass is given by Einstein’s formula E = mc2 where m is the mass of the
particle.

• Even small amounts of mass contain tremendous energy because c2 is such a large number…

90,000,000,000,000,000
(Ninety quadrillion!!!)
 Real Life Examples of STR
BLACK HOLES
• Do they exist? FOR SURE!
• Black Holes are the most profound prediction of general relativity
• A black hole is a large body of matter that is so dense that nothing can
escape its gravitational attraction, at a given distance, known as the
Schwarzschild radius
• Black Holes come in two different sizes: Stellar (5 to 20 solar masses) and
supermassive (millions or billions of times the mass of the sun)
• Black Holes are detected by either their gravitational influence on nearby
bodies or through electromagnetic radiation
•
 Real Life Examples of STR
Electromagnets
• Magnetism is a relativistic effect, and if you use electricity you can
thank relativity for the fact that generators work at all.
• If you take a loop of wire and move it through a magnetic field, you
generate an electric current. The charged particles in the wire are
affected by the changing magnetic field, which forces some of them
to move and creates the current.
• But now, picture the wire at rest and imagine the magnet is moving.
In this case, the charged particles in the wire (the electrons and
protons) aren't moving anymore, so the magnetic field shouldn't be
affecting them. But it does, and a current still flows. This shows that
there is no privileged frame of reference.
 Real Life Examples of STR
Global Positioning System
• In order for your car's GPS navigation to function as accurately as it does,
satellites have to take relativistic effects into account. This is because
even though satellites aren't moving at anything close to the speed of
light, they are still going pretty fast. The satellites are also sending signals
to ground stations on Earth. These stations (and the GPS unit in your car)
are all experiencing higher accelerations due to gravity than the satellites
in orbit.
• To get that pinpoint accuracy, the satellites use clocks that are accurate
to a few billionths of a second (nanoseconds). Since each satellite is
12,600 miles (20,300 kilometers) above Earth and moves at about 6,000
miles per hour (10,000 km/h), there's a relativistic time dilation that tacks
on about 4 microseconds each day. Add in the effects of gravity and the
figure goes up to about 7 microseconds. That's 7,000 nanoseconds.
 Real Life Examples of STR

Your old TV
• Just a few years ago most televisions and monitors had cathode ray
tube screens. A cathode ray tube works by firing electrons at a
phosphor surface with a big magnet. Each electron makes a lighted
pixel when it hits the back of the screen. The electrons fired out to
make the picture move at up to 30 percent the speed of light.
Relativistic effects are noticeable, and when manufacturers shaped
the magnets, they had to take those effects into account.