- Lecturer: Luis Alday
None.
Students will be able to describe the fundamental phenomena of relativistic physics within the algebraic formalism of four-vectors. They will be able to solve simple problems involving Lorentz transformations. They will acquire a basic understanding of how the four-dimensional picture completes and supersedes the physical theories studied in first and second-year work. They will also understand how this new picture explains basic observations in astronomy and cosmology.
The first part of the course sets the basic principles of special relativity. Constancy of the speed of light. Lorentz transformations; time dilation, length contraction, the relativistic Doppler effect. Index notation, four-vectors, four-velocity and four-momentum; equivalence of mass and energy; four-acceleration and four-force. The second part of the course is devoted to the consequences of special relativity: electromagnetism and relativity; and relativistic observations in astronomy and cosmology.