Chapter 1-Modern Physics  The Theory of Special Relativity revolutionized the world

of physics by connecting space and time, matter and

Modern Physics- started around the beginning of 20th century energy, and electricity and magnetism.
Relativity- physics of the very, very fast (speeds approaching
c) Postulates of Relativity

Branches of Modern Physics 1. The laws of Physics are the same in every inertial frame of
 Atomic and Nuclear Physics- study of the composition, reference. No experiment can be done in an inertial reference
structure and behavior of the nucleus of the atom frame to detect its state of motion.

 Quantum Physics- study of the discrete nature of phenomena
at the atomic and subatomic levels. Its focus is on the
indivisible units of energy called quanta as described by the
Quantum Theory. It is the physics of the very, very small
(protons, electrons)
2. The speed of light (3x108 m/s) is the same in all inertial
frames of references and is independent of the motion of
the source. The speed of light in vacuum has the same value
when measured by any observer, regardless of the observer’s
state of motion.

 Relativistic Physics- study of phenomena that take place in Inertial Reference Frame
frame of reference that is in motion with respect to an
observer. It is the physics of the very, very fast (speeds An inertial reference frame is one
approaching c) in which no accelerations are
observed in the absence of external
forces (acceleration is the result of
 Solid State Physics- study of all properties of solid materials, a force), that is not accelerating.
including electrical conduction in crystals of semi-conductors Newton’s laws hold in all inertial
and metals, superconductivity and photoconductivity. reference frames
Non-Inertial Reference Frame
A non-inertial reference frame is
one that is accelerating with respect
to an inertial reference frame. In a
non-inertial reference frame, bodies
have accelerations in the absence of
applied forces.

 Condensed Matter Physics- study of the properties of

Special Relativity: Consequences
condensed materials (solids, liquids, and those intermediate
1. Time Dilation
between them, and dense gas) with the ultimate goal of
 Time to moving objects appear to slow down. Stretching
developing new materials with better properties.
out of time.
 If there is relative motion between two observers (if they
 Plasma Physics- study of the fourth state of matter
are moving at different velocities), they will not agree in
their measurements of space and time. However, the two
 Low-Temperature Physics- study of the production and
observers will agree on their measurements of the speed
maintenance of temperatures down to almost zero, and the
of light.
various phenomena that occur only at such temperature.
 Since speed equals distance divided by time, both
 Modern Physics showed that Newton’s laws were
observers will measure the same ratio of space (distance)
incomplete.
and time.
 Newton’s laws only apply to objects of macroscopic size
 Space/Time=c
(bigger than protons and electrons) and relatively small
 Time passes more slowly in a reference frame that is
speeds (much less than the speed of light).
moving than in a reference frame that is at rest.
 It is given as
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
 Published three papers of extraordinary importance (an
analysis of Brownian motion, photoelectric effect (Nobel
prize), and special theory of relativity).
 The special theory of relativity has made wide-ranging
changes in the understanding of nature.

Special Relativity
 In 1905, Albert Einstein described in his theory of Special
Relativity how measurements of time and space are
affected by the motion between the observer and what is Measuring Light: A stationary observer will measure the
being observed. same speed of light as an observer who is moving in a rocket
ship even if that rocket is moving close to light speed.

 Where ts is the time elapsed for the stationary observer,
tm is the time elapsed for the moving observer, and v is
the velocity of the rocket as measured from the stationary
frame. One can then see that as v→c then the time elapsed
in the stationary frame goes to infinity. To place some
numbers, let v=0.99986c, and tm=1sec. The time elapsed
in the stationary frame is then one hour. Thus for every
second lived in the rocket, the stationary man lives one
hour!
 One of the more radical results of time dilation is the so-
called “twin paradox. ” The twin paradox is a thought
experiment in special relativity that involves identical
twins. One of the twins goes on a journey into space in a
rocket that has a velocity near the speed of light. Upon
returning home the twin finds that the twin that remained
on Earth has aged more. This consequence altered the
perception that aging is necessarily constant.
Length Shrinks
 Moving objects appear shorter.
 The lengths of objects appear to be contracted (shortened)
when they move at relativistic speeds.
 As the speed increases, length in the direction of motion
decreases. Lengths in the perpendicular direction do not
change.
 Length contraction is given as
 General Theory of Relativity is a geometrical theory
of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915.
It unifies special relativity and Sir Isaac Newton’s
law of universal gravitation with the insight that gravitation is
not due to a force but rather is a manifestation of curved space
and time, with this curvature being produced by the mass-
energy and momentum content of the spacetime.
 It has three parts:
1. Equivalence of inertial and gravitational mass
(Galileo’s principle)
2. Laws of physics same in freely falling lab as in lab
at rest far from any mass
3. Physical laws in accelerating lab same as in
stationary lab in gravitational field.
The Equivalence Principle
 Observers cannot distinguish between inertial forces
due to acceleration and uniform gravitational forces
due to a massive body.
 Consequence: Gravity, inertia, and acceleration are
related to the curvature of space-time.
Newton Einstein
The compartment is moving
The compartment is at rest in the in a gravity-free
Earth’s gravitational field. environment.

The apple hits the floor of the

The apple hits the floor of
compartment because the Earth’s
the compartment because the
gravity accelerates the apple
compartment accelerates.
downward.

Mass Increases
 The mass of an object moving at a speed v relative to the General Theory of Relativity
observer is larger than its mass when at rest relative to the  It is the currently the most successful gravitational theory,
observer. being almost universally accepted and well confirmed by
 The relativistic mass is given as observations such as:

1. Gravitational redshift
2. Deflection of light by mass
3. Bending of light by gravitation
4. Perihelion (is the point in the path of a celestial body
that is nearest to the sun) precession of Mercury

1. Gravitational Redshift
 The effect when light or other forms of electromagnetic
General Theory of Relativity
radiation of a certain wavelength originating from a
 Relativity refers to the observation of the motion of a
source placed in a region of stronger gravitational field
body by two different observers in relative motion to
(and which could be said to have climbed “uphill” out of a
each other.
gravity well) will be found to be of longer wavelength
 when received by an observer in a region of weaker
gravitational field.
If applied to optical wavelengths, this manifests itself as
a change in the color of the light as the wavelength is shifted
toward the red (making it less energetic, longer in wavelength,
and lower in frequency) part of the spectrum.
Light leaving a region where the gravitational force is large
will be shifted towards the red (its wavelength increases;
similarly, light falling into a region where the gravitational
pull is larger will be shifted towards the blue.
2. Deflection of Light by Mass
 One immediate consequence of the curvature of the space
time is that light must also be subject to gravity.
A beam of light from a star passing by the Sun and continuing
to the Earth. Because the light ray is bent, the star appears to
be shifted from its actual location. This prediction was first
tested in 1919 during a total solar eclipse.
A light ray arriving from the left would be bent
inwards such that its apparent direction of origin, when
viewed from the right, would differ by an angle (deflection
angle, a) whose size is inversely proportional to the distance
(d) of the closest approach of the ray path to the center of
mass.
3. Bending of Light by Gravitation
 Light travels always the shortest distance in a curved
space-time.
Pulse of light travelling around the Sun; the path with no
gravity, the path as predicted by Newtonian gravity, and the
path as predicted by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity
 Deflection angle (df) tells how far away from a straight line
the path of the light pulse in question was deflected by the
Sun.
 Turning point R0 is the closest distance that the light pulse
gets to the Sun. f=0 corresponds to R= R0
 No gravity, the path is a straight line. The path of a straight
line in polar coordinates centered at the center of the Sun
would be: 1/r=(1 R0) cos(f). To find df, straight line path.
When r=infinity, by symmetry of the coordinate system
0=(1/R0) cos(df/2).
Therefore, Df=p is the total difference in angle swept out by
the light pulse as it comes in from infinity far away and travels
back out infinitely far away. The deflection angle is df=df-
p=0, as it should be for a straight line.
 Newtonian gravity doesn’t work well for describing
properties of light, which can be modeled like the propagation
of a massless particle.
 Einstein’s General Relativity. In General Relativity, the path
of a light pulse is described as a null geodesic satisfying the
geodesic equation for the Schwarzschild metric, the distance
function that solves the Einstein equations around a massive
object in outer space such as the Sun.
4. Perihelion Precession of Mercury
 The orbit of Mercury did not behave as required by
Newton’s equations. (a long-standing problem in the
study of the Solar System)
As Mercury orbits the Sun, it follows an ellipse… but only
approximately: it is found that the point of closest approach of
Mercury to the sun does not always occur at the same place
but that it slowly moves around the sun. This rotation of the
orbit is called a precession.
All the planetary orbits precess and Newton’s theory
predicts these effects, as being produced by the pull of the
planets on one another. The precession of the orbits of all
planets except for Mercury’s can, in fact, be understood using
Newton’s equations. But Mercury seemed to be an exception.
As seen from Earth, the precession of Mercury’s orbit is
measured to be 5600 seconds of arc per century (one second of
arc=1/3600 degrees). Newton’s equations predict a precession
of 5557 seconds of arc per century. There is a discrepancy of
43 seconds of arc per century.
Most of the effect is due to the pull from the other
planets but there is a measurable effect due to the corrections
to Newton’s theory predicted by the General Theory of
Relativity.
Length Contraction
Lorentz Transformations is the relationship
between two different coordinate frames that move at a
constant velocity and are relative to each other. The name of
the transformation comes from a Dutch physicist Hendrik
Lorentz.
There are two frames of reference, which are:
1. Inertial Frames – Motion with a constant velocity
2. Non-Inertial Frames – Rotational motion with constant
angular velocity, acceleration in curved paths
Lorentz transformation is only related to change in the inertial
frames, usually in the context of special relativity. This
transformation is a type of linear transformation in which
mapping occurs between 2 modules that include vector spaces.
In linear transformation, the operations of scalar multiplication
and additions are preserved. This transformation has a number
of instinctive features, such as the observer that is moving at
different velocity may measure elapsed times, different
distances, and ordering of events but the condition that needs
to be followed is that the speed of light should be the same in
all the inertial frames.

Lorentz transformation can also include rotation of

space, a rotation that is free of this transformation is called
Lorentz Boost. The space-time interval which occurs between
any two events is preserved by this transformation.