What convervation law is required by the Lorentz Transformations

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the conservation laws implied by Lorentz transformations in the context of special relativity. It establishes that time invariance leads to conservation of energy, while space invariance results in conservation of momentum. The key conclusion is that Lorentz invariance implies conservation of angular momentum, as derived from Noether's theorem for classical fields. Additionally, spatial rotation invariance is part of the Lorentz group, reinforcing the connection between these symmetries and conservation laws.

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  • Understanding of Noether's theorem in classical fields
  • Familiarity with Lorentz transformations and the Lorentz group
  • Knowledge of conservation laws in physics, specifically energy, momentum, and angular momentum
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metrictensor
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Time invariance implies conservation of energy. Space invariance implies momentum convervation. What convervation law does the Lorentz invariance imply?
 
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Angular momentum. Immediate by Noether's theorem for classical fields.

Daniel.
 
The Lorentz transformations by definition preserve the four-interval c^2t^2 - x^2 - y^2 - z^2.
 
dextercioby said:
Angular momentum. Immediate by Noether's theorem for classical fields.

Daniel.

Conservation of angular momentum is generated by spatatial rotation invariance. Space rotation invariance is indeed part of the Lorentz group. But I suspect the original poster was interested in the symmetries related to the Lorentz boost, not by the spatial rotation part of the Lorentz group.

I seem to recall that this question was discussed before, but I don't recall the conclusion that we came to.
 
selfAdjoint said:
The Lorentz transformations by definition preserve the four-interval c^2t^2 - x^2 - y^2 - z^2.
I was thinking the same thing but there are many 4-vector invariants in SR. Energy-momentum, space-time. The classical conservation laws have one specific quantity conservered not a variety.
 
metrictensor said:
Time invariance implies conservation of energy. Space invariance implies momentum convervation. What convervation law does the Lorentz invariance imply?

Read the stuff here.

Regards,
George
 
Thinking by analogy, shouldn't it imply conservation of the stress-energy tensor?
 
Nope, stress- energy tensor is linked to space-time translations.

Daniel.
 
This should be a straightforward question with an obvious answer - but authors seem to skirt the issue
spatial displacement symmetry - conservation of momentum
temporal displacement symmetry - conservation of energy
isotropic symmetry - conservation of angular momentum

When gauge symmetry is applied to Maxwells's em equations, one consequence is conservation of charge - isn't conservation (invariance) of the spacetime interval also consequent to gauge symmetry?
 
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George Jones said:
Read the stuff here.

Regards,
George

It is a funny answer... the position of the center of mass? Ok, in absence of external forces, the center of mass is a preserved quantity, so it makes sense, or sort of.
 

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