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Philip_Hu
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Does the principle of invariant light speed still hold in a non Inertial frame of reference?
Thank you!
Thank you!
snoopies622 said:I thought that it held locally since any region of spacetime is locally flat.
Fredrik said:So the claim that the speed of light is invariant "locally" in SR doesn't really mean anything, unless you explain what you mean of course.
Fredrik said:If we use the "proper reference frame" of an accelerating observer (i.e. the coordinate system constructed using the standard synchronization procedure), the coordinate speed of light emitted by the observer will depend on a lot of different things, but if he emits the light at the origin of his coordinates, it will at least start out with speed c. I guess that's one thing we could mean by "holds locally" (but I'd rather not use phrases like that).
I don't see why "non-inertial frame of reference" implies flat spacetime. Am I not right now in a non-inertial frame of reference (I'm not freefalling as I type) in a spacetime that is curved?Fredrik said:The question is about Minkowski spacetime, which is globally flat.
snoopies622 said:I thought that it held locally since any region of spacetime is locally flat.
snoopies622 said:By "locally" I just meant "nearby" - in the sense that the surface of a sphere is flat if one looks at a small enough piece of it. Maybe I used the term inappropriately.
In a non Inertial frame of reference, light speed is still constant and equal to approximately 299,792,458 meters per second. However, due to the effects of acceleration or gravity, the observed speed of light may appear to change.
According to Einstein's theory of relativity, acceleration can cause time and space to become distorted, resulting in the observed speed of light appearing to change. This is known as the "Twin Paradox" and is a fundamental concept in understanding the effects of acceleration on light speed.
Yes, gravity can also cause time and space to become distorted, resulting in the observed speed of light appearing to change. This is known as gravitational time dilation and was famously confirmed by the Pound-Rebka experiment in 1959.
Yes, according to the principle of relativity, the laws of physics, including the speed of light, are the same in all non Inertial frames of reference. However, the observed speed of light may vary due to the effects of acceleration or gravity in each frame.
To calculate the observed speed of light in a non Inertial frame of reference, the effects of acceleration or gravity must be taken into account. This can be done using the principles of special and general relativity, which provide mathematical equations to determine the observed speed of light in different situations.