Spacetime Physics

by Edwin F. Taylor & John Archibald Wheeler

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Spacetime Physics embodies what the authors had learned during an additional quarter century of teaching and research. They updated the text to reflect the immense strides in physics during the same period and modernized and increased the number of exercises, for which the First Edition was famous. Enrichment boxes provide expanded coverage of intriguing topics. Sample problems encourage students to exercise their newfound power.

Description from LibreTexts.

Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Subjects
Physics, Relativity
Licence
CC BY 4.0, as LibreTexts states it
Who can read
Tweens profiles and older, judged from its title and subjects

Contents

LibreTexts writes equations in TeX, and here they show as TeX; the PDF has them typeset.

  1. Front Matter
  2. TitlePage
  3. InfoPage
  4. Table of Contents
  5. Licensing
  6. Selected Physical Constants
  7. The Authors
  8. The Unity of SpaceTime
  9. 1: Spacetime Overview
  10. 1.1: Parable of the Surveyors
  11. 1.2: Surveying Spacetime
  12. 1.3: Events and Intervals Alone!
  13. 1.4: Same Unit for Space and Time- Meter, Second, Minute, or Year
  14. 1.5: Unity of Spacetime
  15. 1.6: End of Chapter
  16. 1.E: Spacetime (Exercises)
  17. 2: Floating Free
  18. 2.1: Floating to Moon
  19. 2.2: The Inertial (Free-float) Frame
  20. 2.3: Local Character of Free-float Frame
  21. 2.4: Regions of Spacetime
  22. 2.5: Test Particle
  23. 2.6: Locating Events With a Latticework of Clocks
  24. 2.7: Observer
  25. 2.8: Measuring Particle Speed
  26. 2.9: Rocket Frame
  27. 2.10: End of Chapter
  28. 2.E: Floating Free (Exercises)
  29. 2.S: Floating Free (Summary)
  30. 3: Same Laws for All
  31. 3.1: The Principle of Relativity
  32. 3.2: What Is Not the Same in Different Frames
  33. 3.3: What Is the Same in Different Frames
  34. 3.4: Relativity of Simultaneity
  35. 3.5: Lorentz Contraction of Length
  36. 3.6: Invariance of Transverse Dimension
  37. 3.7: Invariance of the Interval Proved
  38. 3.8: Invariance of the Interval for All Free-float Frames
  39. 3.9: End of Chapter
  40. 3.E: Same Laws for All (Exercises)
  41. 3.S: Same Laws for All (Summary)
  42. 4: Trip to Canopus
  43. 4.1: Invitation To Canopus
  44. 4.2: Stripped-down Free-float Frame
  45. 4.3: Faster Than Light?
  46. 4.4: All of Space Is Ours!
  47. 4.5: Flight Plan
  48. 4.6: Twin Paradox
  49. 4.7: Lorentz Contraction
  50. 4.8: Time Traveler
  51. 4.9: Relativity of Simultaneity
  52. 4.10: Experimental Evidence
  53. 4.11: End of Chapter
  54. 4.E: Trip to Canopus (Exercises)
  55. 5: Trekking through Spacetime
  56. 5.1: Time? No. Spacetime Map? Yes.
  57. 5.2: Same Events; Different Free-float Frames
  58. 5.3: Invariant Hyperbola
  59. 5.4: Worldline
  60. 5.5: Length Along a Path
  61. 5.6: Wristwatch Time Along a Worldline
  62. 5.7: Kinked Worldline
  63. 5.8: Stretch Factor
  64. 5.9: Touring Spacetime Without a Reference Frame
  65. 5.10: End of Chapter
  66. 5.E: Trekking through Spacetime (Exercises)
  67. 5.S: Trekking through Spacetime (Summary)
  68. 6: Regions of Spacetime
  69. 6.1: Light Speed- Limit on Casualty
  70. 6.2: Relation Between Events- Timelike, Spacelike, or Lightlike
  71. 6.3: Light Cone- Partition in Spacetime
  72. 6.E: Regions of Spacetime (Exercises)
  73. 7: Momenergy
  74. 7.1: Momenergy- Total Conserved in a Collision
  75. 7.2: Momenergy Arrow
  76. 7.3: Momenergy Components and Magnitude
  77. 7.4: Momentum- "Space Part" of Momenergy
  78. 7.5: Energy- "Time Part" of Momenergy
  79. 7.6: Conservation of Momenergy and Its Consequences
  80. 7.7: Momenergy (Summary)
  81. 7.8: End of Chapter
  82. 7.E: Momenergy (Exercises)
  83. 8: Collide. Create. Annihilate.
  84. 8.1: The System
  85. 8.2: Three Modest Experiments
  86. 8.3: Mass of a System of Particles
  87. 8.4: Energy Without Mass- Photon
  88. 8.5: Photon Used to Create Mass
  89. 8.6: Photon Used to Create Mass
  90. 8.7: Converting Mass to Usable Energy- Fission, Fusion, Annihilation
  91. 8.8: End of Chapter
  92. 8.E: Collide. Create. Annihilate. (Exercises)
  93. 8.S: Collide. Create. Annihilate. (Summary)
  94. 9: Gravity - Curved Spacetime in Action
  95. 9.1: Gravity in Brief
  96. 9.2: Galileo, Newton, and Einstein
  97. 9.3: Local Moving Orders for Mass
  98. 9.4: Spacetime Curvature
  99. 9.5: Parable of the Two Travelers
  100. 9.6: Gravitation as Curvature of Spacetime
  101. 9.7: Gravity Waves
  102. 9.8: Black Hole
  103. 9.9: The Cosmos
  104. 10: Answers
  105. 10.1: Answers to Odd-numbered Exercises
  106. 11: Special Topic - Lorentz Transformation
  107. 11.1: Lorentz Transformation- Useful or Not?
  108. 11.2: Faster Than Light?
  109. 11.3: First Steps
  110. 11.4: Form of the Lorentz Transformation
  111. 11.5: Completing the Derivation
  112. 11.6: Inverse Lorentz Transformation
  113. 11.7: Addition of Velocities
  114. 11.8: Summary
  115. 11.9: Problems
  116. Back Matter
  117. Index
  118. Glossary
  119. Detailed Licensing