Understanding Lorentz Transformations: A Derivation for A-Level Students

[Alan Tua]

Hi , I'd like to know if anybody could help me understand the following: I was following the following derivation of the Lorentz transformations (http://vishnu.mth.uct.ac.za/omei/gr/chap1/node4.html) and i managed to understand everything except possibly the most crucial step...how does one get the transformations: c(tbar)=(ipsilon)ct+(Beta)x and xbar=(lambda)ct+(delta)x ? ... i m an A level student with pure maths and physics (here in malta we only do 2 subjects at a level ) if anybody could explain to me how one gets to the transformations or from where to find an explanation i d be super-grateful...thanks

 

[jcsd]

The equations you refer to are just genralized linear transformation. We know that the trnafomrtaions that we have to find must be of this form, so it's just a case of finding the unknowns.

Also, it's not upsilon it's gamma.

 

[robphy]

On a side note, the "worldline of particle moving with speed v<c" on
http://vishnu.mth.uct.ac.za/omei/gr/chap1/node4.html
is incorrect. The tangents in the first part of the worldline are incorrectly drawn as spacelike.

 

[Alan Tua]

Hi, thanks for such a quick reply...i got it now,,, thanks again