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In his book, Lew Epstein proves that his
"proper-time/space" diagrams are correct. I am building an animated version of his proof. Look for it on my University of Arkansas home website at http://comp.uark.edu/~davewall/Molly.htmIt is important to see that Lew's proper time diagrams are different from the usual space-coordinate time diagrams used in many approaches to relativity. The usual space-coordinate time diagrams used in non-mathematical treatments are, in turn, different from the most common space-time Murkowski diagrams taught in graduate school. Those diagrams use a complex vertical time axis proportioned with ict where i is the square root of -1 and c is the velocity of light.
These concepts will be more fully explained on my University of Arkansas home website. It can be found at http://comp.uark.edu/~davewall/Molly.htmHope to see you there!
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Stick AG is moving through space, so its ends are desynchronized. It reaches through time. A light flash leaving from O meets the ends of the stick in space at C and I. Since photons do not age, their proper time is stationary in this diagram. It is easy to show that C-O equals A-B and that G-H equals O-I.
Epstein's space-proper-time diagrams can translated into the more usual space-coordinate-time diagrams used in other popular approaches by thinking of both approaches as three-dimensional projections in two different planes. |
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