Simultaneity as an invariant equivalence relation

DOI10.1007/S10701-012-9674-4MaRDI QIDQ1929883zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Marco Mamone Capria

Publication date 10 January 2013

Published in Foundations of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1202.6578

zbMATH Keywords

invariant equivalence relationsMalament's theoremsimultaneityspecial relativity

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Philosophical and critical aspects of logic and foundations (03A05) Special relativity (83A05) Equations of motion in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C10)

Abstract: This paper deals with the concept of simultaneity in classical and relativistic physics as construed in terms of group-invariant equivalence relations. A full examination of Newton, Galilei and Poincar'e invariant equivalence relations in $R^4$ is presented, which provides alternative proofs, additions and occasionally corrections of results in the literature, including Malament's theorem and some of its variants. It is argued that the interpretation of simultaneity as an invariant equivalence relation, although interesting for its own sake, does not cut in the debate concerning the conventionality of simultaneity in special relativity.

Recommendations

• David Malament and the conventionality of simultaneity: a reply
• Conventionality of simultaneity: Malament's result revisited
• Simultaneity, conventialism, general covariance, and the special theory of relativity
• “Definability,” “Conventionality,” and Simultaneity in Einstein–Minkowski Space-Time
• The conventionality of simultaneity in the light of the spinor representation of the Lorentz group

Cites work

• Conventionality of simultaneity: Malament's result revisited
• David Malament and the conventionality of simultaneity: a reply
• General Relativity for Mathematicians
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3134285 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3057862 (Why is no real title available?)
• Mappings of spaces with families of cones and space-time transformations
• Spatial directions, anisotropy and special relativity
• Uniqueness of Simultaneity

Cited in

(6)

• Simultaneity, conventialism, general covariance, and the special theory of relativity
• Simultaneity in Minkowski spacetime: from uniqueness to arbitrariness
• Absolute distant simultaneity in special relativity
• The relativistic invariance of 4D-shapes
• On the fundamental theorem of the theory of relativity
• The conventionality of simultaneity in the light of the spinor representation of the Lorentz group

This page was built for publication: Simultaneity as an invariant equivalence relation

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q1929883)