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In the fundamental branches of modern physics, namely general relativity and its widely applicable subset special relativity, as well as relativistic quantum mechanics and relativistic quantum field theory, the Lorentz transformation is the transformation rule under which all four-vectors and tensors containing physical quantities transform from one frame of reference to another.
The most general proper Lorentz transformation Λ(v, θ) includes a boost and rotation together, and is a nonsymmetric matrix. As special cases, Λ(0, θ) = R(θ) and Λ(v, 0) = B(v). An explicit form of the general Lorentz transformation is cumbersome to write down and will not be given here.
(The improper Lorentz transformations have determinant −1.) The subgroup of proper Lorentz transformations is denoted SO(1, 3). The subgroup of all Lorentz transformations preserving both orientation and direction of time is called the proper, orthochronous Lorentz group or restricted Lorentz group, and is denoted by SO + (1, 3). [a]
To derive the equations of special relativity, one must start with two other The laws of physics are invariant under transformations between inertial frames. In other words, the laws of physics will be the same whether you are testing them in a frame 'at rest', or a frame moving with a constant velocity relative to the 'rest' frame.
These are now called the Lorentz transformations in his honor, and are identical in form to the equations that Einstein was later to derive from first principles. Unlike Einstein's equations, however, Lorentz's transformations were strictly ad hoc, their only justification being that they seemed to work. [S 12] [S 13]: 27–30
In order to find out the transformation of three-acceleration, one has to differentiate the spatial coordinates and ′ of the Lorentz transformation with respect to and ′, from which the transformation of three-velocity (also called velocity-addition formula) between and ′ follows, and eventually by another differentiation with respect to and ′ the transformation of three-acceleration ...
The covariant formulation of classical electromagnetism refers to ways of writing the laws of classical electromagnetism (in particular, Maxwell's equations and the Lorentz force) in a form that is manifestly invariant under Lorentz transformations, in the formalism of special relativity using rectilinear inertial coordinate systems.
The derivative operators, and hence the energy and 3-momentum operators, are also non-invariant and change under Lorentz transformations. Under a proper orthochronous Lorentz transformation (r, t) → Λ(r, t) in Minkowski space, all one-particle quantum states ψ σ locally transform under some representation D of the Lorentz group: [13] [14]