Classical mechanics with respect to an observer’s past light cone. (English) Zbl 0618.70008
An observer can know only data on his past light-cone; is there a best estimate for the probability distribution of given dynamical variables in a future experiment? This paper describes the first step to answering this by developing a Hamiltonian approach in which data is specified on the past light-cone instead of at a given time (this is got by what turns out to be a canonical transformation from the conventional formulation). A spinor form of this is written in terms of the Dirac matrices.
Reviewer: C.W.Kilmister
MSC:
70H40 | Relativistic dynamics for problems in Hamiltonian and Lagrangian mechanics |
70H15 | Canonical and symplectic transformations for problems in Hamiltonian and Lagrangian mechanics |
83A05 | Special relativity |
Keywords:
past light-cone; probability distribution; dynamical variables; Hamiltonian approach; canonical transformation; spinor form; Dirac matricesReferences:
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