Abstract
The principle of special relativity states that all optically isotropic frames of reference are equivalent for the description of physical phenomena. In other words, two optically isotropic observers I and \(I^{\prime }\) register the same results when they carry out measurements by identical experimental devices in the same physical conditions.
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Notes
- 1.
A broad analysis of the debate about the principle of general relativity can be found in [114]. See also the interesting discussion in Fock [57].
- 2.
In the Lagrangian or Hamiltonian formalism of classical mechanics, arbitrary Lagrangian or symplectic coordinates are used to simplify the solution of a problem. However, the solution thus obtained is meaningless if we don’t know how the coordinates in which we solved the problem are related to the coordinates of which the physical meaning is known. For instance, the Arnold–Liouville theorem states the existence of coordinates in the phase space in which the solution of a completely integrable system is trivial but the relation of these coordinates to the physical ones is not given. To overcome this problem, the angle-action variables are introduced.
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Romano, A., Mango Furnari, M. (2019). Introduction to General Relativity. In: The Physical and Mathematical Foundations of the Theory of Relativity. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27237-1_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27237-1_11
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