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I can't figure out the correct explanation for this gedanken.
1) We have a room in deep space which is shielded from external EM fields. The walls are lined with photon detectors. Inside is a charged ball attached to an insulating rod. The other end of the rod is on an axis and the rod is rotated so that the charged ball moves in uniform circular motion.
So far so good. I understand that the charged ball is continually accelerating and therefore is continually emitting photons which are detected by the detectors on the wall. Now, what if we change the experiment:
2) Same as 1) except that the detectors are mounted around the ball on the end of the rod.
Now, in the detector's frame the charge is stationary so there is no acceleration and therefore no emission of photons.
I know that different frames can disagree on distances, times, frequencies, energies etc., but I thought that all frames agreed on the existence of particles. What am I missing? Are the photons in the inertial frame somehow redshifted into non-existence in the rotating frame or is there some other explanation?
-Thanks
Dale
1) We have a room in deep space which is shielded from external EM fields. The walls are lined with photon detectors. Inside is a charged ball attached to an insulating rod. The other end of the rod is on an axis and the rod is rotated so that the charged ball moves in uniform circular motion.
So far so good. I understand that the charged ball is continually accelerating and therefore is continually emitting photons which are detected by the detectors on the wall. Now, what if we change the experiment:
2) Same as 1) except that the detectors are mounted around the ball on the end of the rod.
Now, in the detector's frame the charge is stationary so there is no acceleration and therefore no emission of photons.
I know that different frames can disagree on distances, times, frequencies, energies etc., but I thought that all frames agreed on the existence of particles. What am I missing? Are the photons in the inertial frame somehow redshifted into non-existence in the rotating frame or is there some other explanation?
-Thanks
Dale