söndag 21 juli 2019

(Postulates of) Special Relativity Empty of Physics 1

  1. The laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames of reference.
  2. The speed of light in free space has the same value c in all inertial frames of reference.
In the light of the discussion in recent posts on relativity theory, we make the observations that the postulates state that:
  • It is necessary for a law to be a law of physics (but not sufficient) that it takes the same form in all inertial systems.
  • It is necessary for different observers to measure the same speed of light. 
We understand that neither 1. nor 2. contains any actual real physics, since they do not specify any law of physics,  only stipulate a necessary requirement to be satisfied by a physical law (invariance in the sense of taking the same form in all inertial systems) and stipulate what the result of a measurement of the speed of light must be. The postulates of special relativity thus are not postulates (assumptions) about real physics, but instead are stipulations or definitions concerning form (invariance) or procedure (measurement of the speed of light).  But form and procedure do not contain any real physics, and therefore special relativity has nothing to say about real physics. If the postulates of special relativity are empty of physics, this must be the case for any logical derivation from the postulates, and so the whole special theory of relativity is empty of physics. 

In particular, it is not enough to note invariance of a law to allow declaration that it is a law of physics.

Special relativity is a corner stone of modern physics, and if special relativity is empty of physics, this means that modern physics rests on emptiness. Viewing the result in the form of string theory and multiversa gives further evidence of this unfortunate state of affairs.

PS As stated in my comments to the next post, postulate 2. is a convention since by definition according to the 1983 SI standard the speed of light is specified to be exactly 299792458  meter per second, which is used to define the meter. Postulate 2 is thus a definition without physical content. Likewise, postulate 1 is void of real physics, since it is only a specification of what can be called a physical law. 

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