Special and General Relativity Forum

Join in expert discussion on special and general relativity discussion. Relativity is the dependence of various physical phenomena on relative motion of the observer and the observed objects.

Threads

Undergrad Will anti-parallel light beams between two stars stay parallel?

  • KurtLudwig
  • · Replies 18 ·
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18

High School Implicit assumptions in Einstein's 1905 clock synchronization procedure

  • bahamagreen
  • · Replies 23 ·
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23

Graduate Can large Black Holes ever spaghettify? (and more)

  • .Scott
  • · Replies 25 ·
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Undergrad Can there be a global inertial reference frame in cosmology?

  • Arman777
  • · Replies 2 ·
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2

Graduate Working with second-order metric approximations in numerical calculations

  • Vrbic
  • · Replies 2 ·
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2

Undergrad Measuring One-Way Anisotropy of Light Speed

  • seb7
  • · Replies 2 ·
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2

High School Why does a falling light clock stop when it crosses a black hole's event horizon?

  • Omega0
  • · Replies 21 ·
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High School Why does velocity addition give zero for ships moving in opposite directions?

  • DaveC426913
  • · Replies 14 ·
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14

Undergrad Speed of Light in Vacuum in Non-Inertial Frame

  • cianfa72
  • · Replies 15 ·
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15

Undergrad What is the meaning of constant speed of light?

  • thaiqi
  • · Replies 83 ·
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Undergrad Does an object curve spacetime more as it approaches its Schwarzschild radius?

  • arkantos
  • · Replies 3 ·
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Undergrad What are the Relativistic versions of Jefimenko's equations?

  • tade
  • · Replies 2 ·
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2

Undergrad Why is the geodesic equation constant in Carroll section 5.4?

  • George Keeling
  • · Replies 4 ·
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4

Undergrad What are the many null-infinities in Minkowskian space?

  • Pnin
  • · Replies 4 ·
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4

Undergrad Killing vectors and conserved quantities in Schwarzschild geometry

  • George Keeling
  • · Replies 1 ·
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1

Graduate Understanding Christoffel symbol in GR context

  • JD_PM
  • · Replies 19 ·
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19

Graduate Do non-metric compatible connections violate the equivalence principle?

  • Ibix
  • · Replies 9 ·
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9

High School Einstein-Poincare Clock Synchronization Convention

  • PainterGuy
  • · Replies 21 ·
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21

High School Scale of Measurement vs Equipment Sensitivity: Does Symmetry Always Hold?

  • roineust
  • · Replies 4 ·
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4

Undergrad Question on the energy needed to go at a relativistic speed

  • John SpaceY
  • · Replies 30 ·
2
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Undergrad Did Einstein Formulate an Aberration of Light Using Tangents?

  • Clovis
  • · Replies 7 ·
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7

Undergrad Strongest Evidence for Trapping Light in Schwarzschild Radius

  • greswd
  • · Replies 6 ·
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6

Graduate Orthogonal spacelike and timelike vectors and inertial frames

  • JD_PM
  • · Replies 22 ·
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22

Graduate Is 'Local Flatness' the Right Term for Describing Spacetime?

  • Orodruin
  • · Replies 99 ·
4
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Undergrad Big Bang Theory: Spacetime or Matter First?

  • omie
  • · Replies 1 ·
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1

High School Constant speed between 2 objects close to the speed of light

  • roineust
  • · Replies 22 ·
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22

Undergrad Why does E=pc give a different scale than v=E/p?

  • JohnH
  • · Replies 15 ·
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15

Undergrad Why does quantum gravity matter for masses and energies above Planck scale?

  • George Keeling
  • · Replies 5 ·
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5

Undergrad How can Lorentz transforms be inverted?

  • john t
  • · Replies 13 ·
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13

High School Energy, Mass, Speed of Light: Can We Reach It?

  • LawH
  • · Replies 9 ·
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9

Undergrad How is the 4-Dimensional Element Volume Used in Quantum Physics and Relativity?

  • dsaun777
  • · Replies 14 ·
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14

Undergrad Why is the speed of light absolute?

  • Ad VanderVen
  • · Replies 44 ·
2
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44

High School Time dilation, relativistic mass and fuel consumption

  • PainterGuy
  • · Replies 101 ·
4
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101

High School Does contracting the stress-energy tensor with the metric produce an invariant?

  • dsaun777
  • · Replies 20 ·
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20

Undergrad History of E=mc^2 Before Einstein

  • Demystifier
  • · Replies 28 ·
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28

Undergrad Do We Need ESC in Earth's Atmosphere?

  • Bob Enyart
  • · Replies 12 ·
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12

High School Does constant speed of light mean constant distance and constant time?

  • roineust
  • · Replies 12 ·
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12

Undergrad Does Conservation of Momentum & Energy Hold in the C.O.M. Reference Frame?

  • ruivocanadense
  • · Replies 4 ·
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Undergrad Where is Contraction Point in Special Relativity?

  • MrBlank
  • · Replies 16 ·
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16

Undergrad Lewis H Ryder: Cartesian to Polar Coord Transformations

  • Ayoub Tamin
  • · Replies 2 ·
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2

Undergrad Accelerating Body Creates Space-Time Curvature?

  • DarkMattrHole
  • · Replies 4 ·
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4

Undergrad Does quadrupole moment vary with observer coordinates?

  • AdirianSoan
  • · Replies 22 ·
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22

Graduate Lorentz Transformation Derivation Question

  • jk22
  • · Replies 9 ·
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9

Undergrad Inertial frames in changing gravitational fields

  • Staticboson
  • · Replies 66 ·
3
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High School Moving Faster Than Light: Are There Symmetrical Rules?

  • roineust
  • · Replies 4 ·
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4

Undergrad Is the inertia of a massive object the result of gravity wave generation?

  • DarkMattrHole
  • · Replies 8 ·
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8

High School What Conditions Allow for the Formation and Detection of Einstein-Rosen Bridges?

  • wengler
  • · Replies 1 ·
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1

Graduate Time Measurement in Friedman Metric: Physically Possible?

  • exmarine
  • · Replies 5 ·
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5

Graduate Hawking Radiation: Understanding Complexity in Black Holes

  • hideelo
  • · Replies 7 ·
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7

High School Does Black Hole Gravity Cause a Blueshift in Approaching Light?

  • Revolucien
  • · Replies 39 ·
2
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39

Graduate Magnitude 4-Vector Lorenz Gauge: Klein-Gordon Eq.

  • Thomas Rigby
  • · Replies 2 ·
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High School Do Photons Experience Time When Traveling at Light Speed?

  • Cato
  • · Replies 35 ·
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35

Undergrad How can kinetic energy differ if all inertial frames are equivalent?

  • manulal
  • · Replies 12 ·
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12

Undergrad Gravity at the Event Horizon of a Black Hole

  • RobertsMrtn
  • · Replies 6 ·
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6

Undergrad Trace of the stress energy tensor

  • dsaun777
  • · Replies 6 ·
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6

Undergrad Everyone Measures Light in a Vacuum at the Same Speed

  • BrandonInFlorida
  • · Replies 8 ·
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8

Undergrad Electromagnetic Radiation in Strong Gravity Field

  • tmhen
  • · Replies 1 ·
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1

Undergrad Microsoft Mathematics: Calculate EM Energy Momentum Tensor

  • George Keeling
  • · Replies 1 ·
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1
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6

Undergrad Covariant Derivative: Limits on Making a Tensor?

  • dsaun777
  • · Replies 2 ·
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2

Undergrad What is the Constant Speed of Movement through Spacetime?

  • RahSuh
  • · Replies 29 ·
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29

Undergrad How does gravity move a stationary body if gravity is spacetime curvature?

  • woolyhead77
  • · Replies 37 ·
2
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37

Undergrad Is Zero Curvature Space Equivalent to Flat Space in General Relativity?

  • Jianbing_Shao
  • · Replies 35 ·
2
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35

Graduate Can a Lorentz invariant Lagrangian density contain second derivatives?

  • Gaussian97
  • · Replies 4 ·
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4

High School Why Shouldn't I Be Skeptical About SR Postulate No.1?

  • roineust
  • · Replies 15 ·
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15

Undergrad How does gravity from matter inside a black hole affect the outside?

  • Mahesh
  • · Replies 8 ·
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8

Undergrad Lorentz Arguments for Ether: Critical Analysis of 1895 Paper

  • Lincon Ribeiro
  • · Replies 3 ·
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3

High School Can an observer moving at c be treated with Lorentz transformations?

  • jk22
  • · Replies 11 ·
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11

High School The precession of Mercury's orbit

  • PainterGuy
  • · Replies 5 ·
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5

Graduate Why does metric variation yield opposite sign for derivative term?

  • QipshaqUli
  • · Replies 1 ·
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1

High School Why isn't energy conserved in general relativity?

  • Jimmy87
  • · Replies 14 ·
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14

Undergrad Energy Component 0 of 4 Momentum Vector P

  • kent davidge
  • · Replies 10 ·
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10

Undergrad Special Relativity: Constant Speeds or More Complex GRT?

  • kent davidge
  • · Replies 4 ·
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4

Undergrad How do special relativity and Lorentz transformation differ?

  • BadgerBadger92
  • · Replies 11 ·
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11

Undergrad Is the four current in Relativity an invariant quantity?

  • dsaun777
  • · Replies 16 ·
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16

Undergrad Sending Signal from Planet Near Gargantua: A Thought Experiment

  • kccrossen
  • · Replies 3 ·
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3

High School Is Any Material Truly Incompressible Under Special Relativity?

  • YoungPhysicist
  • · Replies 16 ·
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16

High School Does time dilation show that time is object-specific?

  • LeeHilliard
  • · Replies 18 ·
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18

Graduate Validity of theoretical arguments for Unruh and Hawking radiation

  • Elias1960
  • · Replies 146 ·
5
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146

Undergrad Transformation of the contravariant and covariant components of a tensor

  • shinobi20
  • · Replies 23 ·
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23

Undergrad Time dilation and spatial contraction in special relativity

  • Taktix
  • · Replies 3 ·
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3

Undergrad Ligo Heat Dissipation: How Do They Protect Mirrors?

  • kelly0303
  • · Replies 3 ·
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3

Undergrad One Way Speed of Light: Is it Constant?

  • CompSci
  • · Replies 8 ·
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8

Undergrad Struggling with a special relativity "paradox"

  • KipIngram
  • · Replies 47 ·
2
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47

Graduate Parallel transport of a 1-form aound a closed loop

  • Phinrich
  • · Replies 8 ·
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8

Graduate Christoffel Symbols in terms of a Change in Basis

  • Phinrich
  • · Replies 19 ·
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19

Undergrad Electric Field Directly Ahead of or Behind a Moving Charge

  • shinobi20
  • · Replies 34 ·
2
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34

High School Calculating Triangle Area in Relativity Theory

  • LagrangeEuler
  • · Replies 13 ·
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13

Undergrad Why isn't the covariant derivative of the Ricci tensor zero?

  • dsaun777
  • · Replies 6 ·
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6

High School How is time illustrated in a Cartesian coordinate system?

  • BadgerBadger92
  • · Replies 15 ·
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15

Graduate Schwarzschild metric geodesic equation integration

  • exmarine
  • · Replies 15 ·
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15

High School Can an object reach point B by always traveling half the remaining distance?

  • ShaunM
  • · Replies 64 ·
3
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64

Undergrad Explanation of Galilean transformations

  • penroseandpaper
  • · Replies 2 ·
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2

High School What path does matter take after entering a black hole?

  • MikeeMiracle
  • · Replies 98 ·
4
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98

Graduate Kinnersley’s “photon rocket” and gravitational radiation

  • Povel
  • · Replies 14 ·
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14

High School Does Godel's Rotating Universe Theory Suggest Time Repeats Itself?

  • BadgerBadger92
  • · Replies 11 ·
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11

Graduate Weyl transformation of connection and curvature tensors

  • Rabindranath
  • · Replies 4 ·
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4

Undergrad Why does Special Theory of Relativity leave out Potential Energy?

  • Saptarshi Sarkar
  • · Replies 5 ·
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5

Undergrad Gravitational interaction between three bodies

  • Ranku
  • · Replies 4 ·
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4

Undergrad An observer passing the event horizon of a black hole (Part 2)

  • DennisN
  • · Replies 29 ·
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29