Minkowski spacetime does not apply to a homogeneously accelerating medium

• Main Author: Brian Coleman
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2016-01-01
• Series: Results in Physics
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211379716000024

Home and comoving inertial frame parameters of an individual point of an idealized medium of launch length L uniformly co-accelerating between identical fixed-thrust rockets, are well known. This is not the case with the varying inter-rocket radar periods and related implications regarding a changing ‘noninertial own-length’ Λ which differs from a front rocket’s retrospective separation L from the simultaneously relatively moving rear rocket. On the other hand, the nonhomogeneous acceleration case involving every comoving frame’s unchanging perception of a contrived ‘rigor mortis’ medium (so-called ‘rigid motion’ traditionally associated with ‘Rindler coordinates’) whereby Λ=L=L, constitutes the sole extended accelerating medium scenario where the entrenched Minkowski metric is actually applicable. Paraphrasing Wolfgang Pauli, not only is Minkowski spacetime not correct [in the general sense], it is not even wrong [in the restricted sense]. Keywords: Homogeneous acceleration, Radar intervals, Minkowski metric, Rigor mortis acceleration, Medium-timed photon crossing rate, Retrospective separation