scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1422792

MaRDI QIDQ4946737zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Alexander Kreuzer

Publication date 28 May 2001

zbMATH Keywords

\(K\)-loopsboostsLorentz groupsrelativistic velocitiesrotationsThomas rotations

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Loops, quasigroups (20N05) Structure and representation of the Lorentz group (22E43) Applications of Lie groups to the sciences; explicit representations (22E70) Hyperbolic and elliptic geometries (general) and generalizations (51M10) Classical or axiomatic geometry and physics (51P05) Special relativity (83A05)

Review text

This is a nicely written survey about the algebraic structure of the set of relativistically admissible velocities \[ \mathbb{R}^3_c:=\{v\in\mathbb{R}^3\mid|v|<c\},\quad c=\text{speed of light}. \] The Lorentz group \(\mathcal L\) considered as a permutation group of \(\mathbb{R}^4\) can be uniquely written as the product \({\mathcal L}=B\circ D\) where \(D\) is the subgroup of rotations of the space-coordinates \(\mathbb{R}^3\) and \(B\) is the set of boosts. The author sketches the history which led to the discovery of the Thomas rotation and describes the algebraic structure of the boosts (which is isomorphic to the relativistically admissible velocities) and the rôle which plays the Thomas rotation. The references contain a carefully selected list of all essential articles belonging to this subject.

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Cited in

(5)

• The reflection of light by planar stratified media: the groupoid of amplitudes and a phase 'Thomas precession'
• Recursive formulation of the relativistic law of superposition of multiple collinear velocities
• A characterization of relativistic addition
• From E = mc ² to the Lorentz transformations via the law of addition of relativistic velocities
• The Thomas rotation formalism underlying a nonassociative group structure for relativistic velocities

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