Abstract
The principles of relativity are assertions about the structure of physical laws, whose validity or nonvalidity can only be empirically confirmed or falsified. The weakest forms of those principles are the so-calledglobal propositions. They furnish statements as to which operations—assumed to be performed simultaneously throughout the whole universe—have no influence upon the physical events. Much stronger principles are those of alocal nature. These assert that the physical properties of a system do not change, when the relation of the system is altered vis-à-vis the universe at large. On formulating these local principles, we presuppose either that it is possible to eliminate any influence of the environment or that the influence can be compensated as in the case of universal forces (e.g., gravitational) which can principally not be removed. Still weaker, however, are those formulations of the relativity principles which postulate relativity only for infinitesimally small space-time domains or regions. This distinction yields clarification of all discussions about existence and meaning of a general relativity principle. Such an analysis was already performed by Einstein and Abraham in 1912.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
M. Abraham,Phys. Z. 13, 1 (1912).
M. Abraham,Ann. Physik 38, 1056 (1912).
M. Abraham,Ann. Physik 39, 444 (1912).
A. Einstein,Ann. Physik 38, 355 (1912).
A. Einstein,Ann. Physik 38, 1059 (1912).
A. Einstein,Ann. Physik 49, 769 (1916).
A. Einstein,Über Spezielle und Allgemeine Relativitätstheorie (Berlin, Braunschweig, Oxford, 1968), 21st ed.
A. Einstein,Grundzüge der Relativitätstheorie (Berlin, Braunschweig, Oxford, 1960), 5th ed.
A. Einstein,Äther und Relativitätstheorie (Berlin, 1920).
A. Einstein,Geometrie und Erfahrung (Berlin, 1920).
A. Einstein,Berliner Berichte 217 (1928).
L. P. Eisenhart,Non-Riemannian Geometry (New York, 1927).
V. A. Fock,The Theory of Space, Time, and Gravitation (Pergamon Press, New York, 1959).
V. A. Fock, “Grundprinzipien der Einsteinschen Gravitationstheorie,” inEntstehung, Entwicklung und Perspektiven der Einsteinschen Gravitationstheorie, ed. by H.-J. Treder (Berlin, 1966).
V. A. Fock, “Les deux principes de relativité et la théorie d'Einstein,” inFluides et champs gravitationelles en relativité générale (Paris, 1969).
W. Heisenberg, “Kosmologie, Elementarteilchen und Symmetrie.” Lecture given at the Meeting of Nobel-Prize Winners, Lindau, 1968.
H. von Helmholtz, “Über den Ursprung un die Bedeutung der geometrischen Axiome,” inVortrage und Reden (Braunschweig, 1884), Vol. 2, p. 1.
M. Kretschmann,Ann. Physik 53, 575 (1917).
L. Lange,Die Geschichtliche Entwicklung des Bewegungsbegriffs (Leipzig, 1880).
E. Mach,Die Mechanik in ihrer Entwicklung (Leipzig, 1933), 7th ed.
H. Poincaré,Wissenschaft und Hypothese (Leipzig and Berlin, 1964).
H. Poincaré,Der Wert der Wissenschaft (Leipzig and Berlin, 1910), 2nd ed.
H. Reichenbach,Philosophie der Raum-Zeit Lehre (Berlin, 1928).
H.-J. Treder, “Lorentz-Gruppe, Einstein-Gruppe und Raumstruktur,” inEntstehung, Entwicklung und Perspektiven der Einsteinschen Gravitationstheorie, ed. by H.-J. Treder (Berlin, 1960).
H.-J. Treder,Relativität und Kosmos (Berlin, Braunschweig, Oxford, 1968).
H.-J. Treder,Monatsber. Deut. Akad. Wiss. (Berlin) 11, 226 (1969).
H.-J. Treder,Intern. J. Theoret. Phys. 3 (1970).
H.-J. Treder,Math. Nachr. 42, 295 (1969).
H.-J. Treder,Monatsber. Deut. Akad. Wiss. (Berlin) 11, 207 (1969).
H.-J. Treder and D.-E. Liebscher, “General Relativity as a Theory of Non-Lorentzian Changes of Reference Systems,” in press.
H. Weyl,Math. Z. 2, 384 (1918).
H. Weyl,Naturwissenschaften 19, 49 (1931).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Treder, HJ. Global and local principles of relativity. Found Phys 1, 77–94 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00708657
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00708657