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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to our
guide Mr. Avneesh Sharma who encouraged me with her
critical and constructive suggestions in the project work.
I am also thankful to my FRIENDS for their invaluable
guidance in this project. They benefited me with their
experience and skills in the project.
I again thank all the people who helped me in my
project for their support and encouragement.

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LORENTZ TRANSFORMATION

A visualisation of the Lorentz transformation. Only one space coordinate is

considered. The thin solid lines crossing at right angles depict the time and
distance coordinates of an observer at rest; the skewed solid straight lines depict
the coordinate grid of a moving observer.

In physics, the Lorentz transformation converts between two different

observers' measurements of space and time, where one observer is in constant
motion with respect to the other. In classical physics (Galilean relativity), the only
conversion believed necessary was x' = x − vt, describing how the origin of one
observer's coordinate system slides through space with respect to the other's, at
speed v and along the x-axis of each frame. According to special relativity, this is
only a good approximation at much smaller speeds than the speed of light, and in

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general the result is not just an offsetting of the x coordinates; lengths and times
are distorted as well.

If space is homogeneous, then the Lorentz transformation must be a linear

transformation. Also, since relativity postulates that the speed of light is the same
for all observers, it must preserve the spacetime interval between any two events
in Minkowski space. The Lorentz transformations describe only the
transformations in which the event at x = 0, t = 0 is left fixed, so they can be
considered as a rotation of Minkowski space. The more general set of
transformations that also includes translations is known as the Poincaré group.

CONTENTS:
• 1 Lorentz transformation for frames in standard configuration
o 1.1 Matrix form
o 1.2 Rapidity
o 1.3 Hyperbolic trigonometric expressions
o 1.4 Hyperbolic rotation of coordinates
•
• 2 General boosts
•
• 3 Spacetime interval
•
• 4 Special relativity
•
• 5 The correspondence principle
•
• 6 History
•
• 7 Derivation
 7.1 Coordinate transformations as a group
 7.1.1 Transformation matrices consistent with group
axioms
 7.1.2 Galilean transformations
 7.1.3 Lorentz transformations
o 7.2 From physical principles

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 7.2.1 Galilean reference frames

 7.2.2 Speed of light independent of the velocity of the
source
 7.2.3 Principle of relativity
 7.2.4 Expression of the Lorentz transformation

The Lorentz Transformation for Velocity:

It is recognized that Special Relativity provides the Lorentz Transformations

for Length and Time and Mass between reference frames having a
relative velocity. What is too often not recognized that, in so doing, it
provides the transformations for all other physical quantities! These
remaining transformations may be determined by applying the
conventional Lorentz Transformations to accepted physical equations.
Since a velocity is equal to a length divided by the time required to
traverse that length, the Lorentz Transformation for Velocity must equal
the Lorentz Transformation for Length [1/(1-V^2/C^2)^0.5] divided by
the Lorentz Transformation for Time [(1-V^2/C^2)^0.5].

The Lorentz Transformation for Velocity is therefore equal to 1/(1-V^2/C^2).

(As incredible as it may seem.

This transformation yields a conclusion which is in conflict with the current

understanding of Special Relativity. Present dogma asserts that the
velocity of light is the same in all velocity reference frames. If one
considers two reference frames, A and B, moving at a relativity velocity
V with respect to each other, one finds that an observer in A measures
the velocity of light in his own reference frame as its conventional value
of C and the velocity of light in B as having been reduced by the Lorentz
Transformation for Velocity. Similarly, an observer in B measures the
velocity of light in his own reference frame as C and the velocity of light
in A as having been reduced by the Lorentz Transformation for velocity.

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We are forced to accept the conclusion, however, that the velocity of light
changes as a result of a change in velocity and that this change in
velocity is concealed by a change in the size of the units of measurement
for velocity (length/time) making it appear that the velocity of light is the
same in both reference frames. In terms of unchanging units of
measurement, the velocity of light does differ between reference frames
which differ in velocity, it only appears to be unchanged when it is
measured within each reference frame. It may be stated, therefore, that
Special Relativity requires that the velocity of light be a "constant" but
cannot be constant between reference frames having a relative velocity.
This conclusion is consistent with the Lorentz Transformation Aether
Theory which asserts that our velocity with respect to the Aether is
indeterminate.

Lorentz transformation for frames in standard configuration:

Standard configuration of coordinate systems for Lorentz transformations.

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Views of spacetime along the world line of a rapidly accelerating observer moving
in a 1-dimensional (straight line) "universe". The vertical direction indicates time,
while the horizontal indicates distance, the dashed line is the spacetime trajectory
("world line") of the observer. The small dots are specific events in spacetime. If
one imagines these events to be the flashing of a light, then the events that pass
the two diagonal lines in the bottom half of the image (the past light cone of the
observer in the origin) are the events visible to the observer. The slope of the
world line (deviation from being vertical) gives the relative velocity to the
observer. Note how the view of spacetime changes when the observer accelerates.

Assume there are two observers O and Q, each using their own Cartesian
coordinate system to measure space and time intervals. O uses (t,x,y,z) and Q uses
(t',x',y',z'). Assume further that the coordinate systems are oriented so that the x-
axis and the x' -axis overlap, the y-axis is parallel to the y' -axis, as are the z-axis
and the z' -axis. The relative velocity between the two observers is v along the
common x-axis. Also assume that the origins of both coordinate systems are the
same. If all these hold, then the coordinate systems are said to be in standard
configuration. A symmetric presentation between the forward Lorentz
Transformation and the inverse Lorentz Transformation can be achieved if
coordinate systems are in symmetric configuration. The symmetric form
highlights that all physical laws should be of such a kind that they remain
unchanged under a Lorentz transformation.

The Lorentz transformation for frames in standard configuration can be shown to

be:

where is called the Lorentz factor.

RAPIDITY:

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The Lorentz transformation can be cast into another useful form by introducing a
parameter called the rapidity (an instance of hyperbolic angle) through the
equation:

Equivalently:

Then the Lorentz transformation in standard configuration is:

Hyperbolic trigonometric expressions:

It can also be shown that:

and therefore,

Hyperbolic rotation of coordinates:

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Substituting these expressions into the matrix form of the transformation, we

have:

Thus, the Lorentz transformation can be seen as a hyperbolic rotation of

coordinates in Minkowski space, where the rapidity φ represents the hyperbolic

General boosts:
For a boost in an arbitrary angle of rotation.

direction with velocity , it is convenient to decompose the spatial vector into

components perpendicular and parallel to the velocity : . Then
only the component in the direction of is 'warped' by the gamma factor:

where now . The second of these can be written as:

These equations can be expressed in matrix form as

where I is the identity matrix, v is velocity written as a column vector and vT is its
transpose (a row vector).

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SPACETIME INTERVAL:
In a given coordinate system (xμ), if two events A and B are separated by

the spacetime interval between them is given by

This can be written in another form using the Minkowski metric. In this
coordinate system,

Then, we can write

or, using the Einstein summation convention,

Now suppose that we make a coordinate transformation . Then, the

interval in this coordinate system is given by

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or

It is a result of special relativity that the interval is an invariant. That is, .

It can be shown that this requires the coordinate transformation to be of the form

Here, is a constant vector and a constant matrix, where we require that

Such a transformation is called a Poincaré transformation or an inhomogeneous

Lorentz transformation. The Ca represents a space-time translation. When
, the transformation is called an homogeneous Lorentz transformation, or
simply a Lorentz transformation.

Taking the determinant of gives us

Lorentz transformations with are called proper Lorentz

transformations. They consist of spatial rotations and boosts and form a
subgroup of the Lorentz group. Those with are called improper
Lorentz transformations and consist of (discrete) space and time reflections
combined with spatial rotations and boosts. They don't form a subgroup, as the
product of any two improper Lorentz transformations will be a proper Lorentz
transformation.

The composition of two Poincaré transformations is a Poincaré transformation and

the set of all Poincaré transformations with the operation of composition forms a
group called the Poincaré group. Under the Erlangen program, Minkowski space
can be viewed as the geometry defined by the Poincaré group, which combines
Lorentz transformations with translations. In a similar way, the set of all Lorentz
transformations forms a group, called the Lorentz group.

A quantity invariant under Lorentz transformations is known as a Lorentz scalar.

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SPECIAL RELATIVITY:
One of the most astounding consequences of Einstein's clock-setting method is the
idea that time is relative. In essence, each observer's frame of reference is
associated with a unique set of clocks, the result being that time passes at different
rates for different observers. This was a direct result of the Lorentz
transformations and is called time dilation. We can also clearly see from the
Lorentz "local time" transformation that the concept of the relativity of
simultaneity and of the relativity of length contraction are also consequences of
that clock-setting hypothesis.

Lorentz transformations can also be used to prove that magnetic and electric fields
are simply different aspects of the same force — the electromagnetic force. If we
have one charge or a collection of charges which are all stationary with respect to
each other, we can observe the system in a frame in which there is no motion of
the charges. In this frame, there is only an "electric field". If we switch to a
moving frame, the Lorentz transformation will predict that a "magnetic field" is
present. This field was initially unified in Maxwell's concept of the
"electromagnetic field".

THE CORRESPONDENCE PRINCIPLE:

For relative speeds much less than the speed of light, the Lorentz transformations
reduce to the Galilean transformation in accordance with the correspondence
principle. The correspondence limit is usually stated mathematically as , so
it is usually said that non relativistic physics is a physics of "instant action at a
distance" .

HISTORY:
The transformations were first discovered and published by Joseph Larmor in
1897. In 1905, Henri Poincaré named them after the Dutch physicist and
mathematician Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (1853-1928) who had published a first
order version of these transformations in 1895 and the final version in 1899 and
1904.

Many physicists, including FitzGerald, Larmor, Lorentz and Woldemar Voigt, had
been discussing the physics behind these equations since 1887. Larmor and
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Lorentz, who believed the luminiferous aether hypothesis, were seeking the
transformations under which Maxwell's equations were invariant when
transformed from the ether to a moving frame. In early 1889, Heaviside had
shown from Maxwell's equations that the electric field surrounding a spherical
distribution of charge should cease to have spherical symmetry once the charge is
in motion relative to the ether. FitzGerald then conjectured that Heaviside’s
distortion result might be applied to a theory of intermolecular forces. Some
months later, FitzGerald published his conjecture in Science to explain the
baffling outcome of the 1887 ether-wind experiment of Michelson and Morley.
This became known as the FitzGerald-Lorentz explanation of the Michelson-
Morley null result, known early on through the writings of Lodge, Lorentz,
Larmor, and FitzGerald. Their explanation was widely accepted as correct before
1905. Larmor gets credit for discovering the basic equations in 1897 and for being
first in understanding the crucial time dilation property inherent in his equations.

"It is the great merit of H. A. Lorentz to have seen that the fundamental equations
of electromagnetism admit a group of transformations which enables them to have
the same form when one passes from one frame of reference to another; this new
transformation has the most profound implications for the transformations of
space and time".

DERIVATION:
The usual treatment (e.g., Einstein's original work) is based on the invariance of
the speed of light. However, this is not necessarily the starting point: indeed (as is
exposed, for example, in the second volume of the Course in Theoretical Physics
by Landau and Lifshitz), what is really at stake is the locality of interactions: one
supposes that the influence that one particle, say, exerts on another can not be
transmitted instantaneously. Hence, there exists a theoretical maximal speed of
information transmission which must be invariant, and it turns out that this speed
coincides with the speed of light in vacuum. The need for locality in physical
theories was already noted by Newton (see Koestler's "The Sleepwalkers"), who
considered the notion of an action at a distance "philosophically absurd" and
believed that gravity must be transmitted by an agent (interstellar aether) which
obeys certain physical laws.

Michelson and Morley in 1887 designed an experiment, which employed an

interferometer and a half-silvered mirror, that was accurate enough to detect

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aether flow. The mirror system reflected the light back into the interferometer. If
there were an aether drift, it would produce a phase shift and a change in the
interference that would be detected. However, given the results were negative,
rather than validating the aether, based upon the findings aether was not
confirmed. This was a major step in science that eventually resulted in Einstein's
Special Theory of Relativity.

In a 1964 paper, Erik Christopher Zeeman showed that the causality preserving
property, a condition that is weaker in a mathematical sense than the invariance of
the speed of light, is enough to assure that the coordinate transformations are the
Lorentz transformations.

GALILEAN TRANSFORMATIONS:
If then we get the Galilean-Newtonian kinematics with the Galilean
transformation,

where time is absolute, t' = t, and the relative velocity v of two inertial frames is
not limited.

LORENTZ TRANSFORMATIONS:

If is negative, then we set which becomes the invariant speed, the

speed of light in vacuum. This yields and thus we get special relativity
with Lorentz transformation

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where the speed of light is a finite universal constant determining the highest
possible relative velocity between inertial frames.

If the Galilean transformation is a good approximation to the Lorentz

transformation.

Only experiment can answer the question which of the two possibilities, κ = 0 or κ
< 0, is realised in our world. The experiments measuring the speed of light, first
performed by a Danish physicist Ole Rømer, show that it is finite, and the
Michelson–Morley experiment showed that it is an absolute speed, and thus that κ
< 0.

From physical principles:

The problem is usually restricted to two dimensions by using a velocity along the
x axis such that the y and z coordinates do not intervene. It is similar to that of
Einstein. More details may be found in As in the Galilean transformation, the
Lorentz transformation is linear : the relative velocity of the reference frames is
constant. They are called inertial or Galilean reference frames. According to
relativity no Galilean reference frame is privileged. Another condition is that the
speed of light must be independent of the reference frame, in practice of the
velocity of the light source.

Galilean reference frames:

In classical kinematics, the total displacement x in the R frame is the sum of the
relative displacement x' in frame R' and of the displacement x in frame R. If v is
the relative velocity of R' relative to R, we have v : x = x’+vt or x’=x-vt. This
relationship is linear for a constant v, that is when R and R' are Galilean frames of
reference.

In Einstein's relativity, the main difference with Galilean relativity is that space is
a function of time and vice-versa: t ≠ t’. The most general linear relationship is
obtained with four constant coefficients, α, β, γ and v:

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The Lorentz transformation becomes the Galilan transformation when β = γ = 1

and α = 0.

Speed of light independent of the velocity of the source:

Light being independent of the reference frame as was shown by Michelson, we
need to have x = ct if x’ = ct’. Replacing x and x' in the preceding equations, one
has:

Replacing t’ with the help of the second equation, the first one writes:

After simplification by t and dividing by cβ, one obtains:

PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY:
According to the principle of relativity, there is no privileged Galilean frame of
reference. One has to find the same Lorentz transformation from frame R to R' or
from R' to R. As in the Galilean transformation, the sign of the transport velocity v
has to be changed when passing from one frame to the other.

The following derivation uses only the principle of relativity which is independent
of light velocity constancy. The inverse transformation of

is :

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In accordance with the principle of relativity, the expressions of x and t are:

They have to be identical to those obtained by inverting the transformation except

for the sign of the velocity of transport v:

We thus have the identities, verified for any x’ and t’ :

Finally we have the equalities :

Expression of the Lorentz transformation:

Using the relation

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obtained earlier, one has :

and, finally:

We have now all the coefficients needed and, therefore, the Lorentz
transformation :

The inverse Lorentz transformation writes, using the Lorentz factor γ:

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