University of Adelaide applied mathematicians have extended Einstein's theory of special relativity to work beyond the speed of light. Einstein's theory holds that nothing could move faster than the speed of light, but Professor Jim Hill and Dr Barry Cox in the University's School of Mathematical Sciences have developed new formulas that allow for travel beyond this limit. Read more
The video shows photorealistic representations of reduced c scenes. This means that the speed of light has been slowed down from over one billion kilometres per hour to a speed of only one meter per second. The consequences of this fiction have been restricted to optical effects, and allows us to see special-relativistic effects not possible in everyday life. The first scene is a trip down a highway without any relativistic effects. Note the position and orientation of the structures in the desert. For the next trip, we enable relativistic aberration. As we accelerate, note that the angular compression creates an initial impression of backwards motion. As we pass the sign, it seems to rotate around. This can be viewed as a Terrell rotation, or as angular aberration keeping the sign in our field of view as we pass it. The back walls of the building are also visible, and extreme distortion is visible on all the objects. Note particularly the sky, steadily shrinking down to the vanishing point.
Visualisation of Einstein's special relativity
This video demonstrates the effects of Einstein's special relativity on objects that move at high velocities. More particularly, it visualises the Lorentz transformation. The video shows a 3-dimensional view containing 2 dimensions of space and one dimension of time. This view is used to demonstrate the difference between classical physics and Einstein's relativity, and why the latter was necessary to understand experimental results.
Einstein's "Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper" ("On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies"), his third paper that year, was received on June 30 and published September 26. It reconciles Maxwell's equations for electricity and magnetism with the laws of mechanics, by introducing major changes to mechanics close to the speed of light. This later became known as Einstein's special theory of relativity. Read more