On the Physical Separation of Time

Thread starter Anamitra
Start date Dec 22, 2010
Tags

Physical Separation Time

In summary, we are considering a stationary curved spacetime fabric and the temporal separation is given by an integral that is path-dependent and can vary depending on the nature of the metric. The concept of "physical time" is introduced, which is the measure of time between a pair of events but has no clear physical meaning and can have multiple values. There is a discussion about which value of physical time should be considered for theoretical investigation and experimental observation, but it is argued that this quantity is not useful or necessary in practical calculations. The OP also considers their previous thread where this concept was discussed.

Mar 20, 2011

deSitter

Anamitra, how do you interpret this?

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=172288

Here we have an example of something is both moving and stationary, depending on how you interpret it. So time means something different with distant objects. Cooperstock was at pains to explain this in his book "General Relativistic Dynamics". The correct understanding is essential for the correct interpretation of distant processes.

edit: Here is Cooperstock's paper on "General Relativistic Velocity"

http://arxiv.org/abs/0712.0019

and here is the application

http://arxiv.org/abs/1101.3224

-drl

Last edited by a moderator: May 5, 2017