By Johann Rafelski
Springer
Also available at the CERN bookshop
This monograph on special relativity (SR) is presented in a form accessible to a broad readership, from pre-university level to undergraduate and graduate students. At the same time, it will also be of great interest to professional physicists.
Relativity Matters has all the hallmarks of becoming a classic with further editions, and appears to have no counterpart in the literature. It is particularly useful because at present SR has become a basic part not only of particle and space physics, but also of many other branches of physics and technology, such as lasers. The book has 29 chapters organised in 11 parts, which cover topics from the basics of four-vectors, space–time, Lorentz transformations, mass, energy and momentum, to particle collisions and decay, the motion of charged particles, covariance and dynamics.
The first half of the book derives basic consequences of the SR assumptions with a minimum of mathematical tools. It concentrates on the explanation of apparently paradoxical results, presenting and refuting counterarguments as well as debunking various incorrect statements in elementary textbooks. This is done by cleverly exploiting the Galilean method of a dialogue between a professor, his assistant and a student, to bring out questions and objections.
The importance of correctly analysing the consequences for extended and accelerating bodies is clearly presented. Among the many “paradoxes”, one notes the accelerating rocket problem that the late John Bell used to tease many of the world’s most prominent physicists with. Few of them provided a perfectly satisfactory answer.
The second half of the book, starting from part VII, covers the usual textbook material and techniques at graduate level, illustrated with examples from the research frontier. The introductions to the various chapters and subsections are still enjoyable for a broader readership, requiring little mathematics. The author does not avoid technicalities such as vector and matrix algebra and symmetries, but keeps them to a minimum. However, in the parts dealing with electromagnetism, the reader is assumed to be reasonably familiar with Maxwell’s equations.
There are copious concrete exercises and solutions. Throughout the book, indeed, every chapter is complemented by a rich variety of problems that are fully worked out. These are often used to illustrate quantitatively intriguing topics, from space travel to the laser acceleration of charged particles.
An interesting afterword concluding the book discusses how very strong acceleration becomes a modern limiting frontier, beyond which SR in classical physics becomes invalid. The magnitude of the critical accelerations and critical electric and magnetic fields are qualitatively discussed. It also briefly analyses attempts by well-known physicists to side-step the problems that arise as a consequence.
Relativity Matters is excellent as an undergraduate and graduate textbook, and should be a useful reference for professional physicists and technical engineers. The many non-specialist sections will also be enjoyed by the general, science-interested public.Torleif Ericson, CERN
