Clocks and Chronogeometry: Rotating Spacetimes and the Relativistic Null Hypothesis
- Menon, Tushar Faculty of Philosophy University of Oxford Oxford, UK and Department of Philosophy University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago, IL, USA
- Linnemann, Niels Philosophy Department University of Geneva Geneva, Switzerland niels.linnemann@unige.ch
- Read, James Faculty of Philosophy University of Oxford Oxford, UK and Department of Philosophy University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago, IL,USA james.read@philosophy.ox.ac.uk
- 2018-8-3
Published in:
- The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. - Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2018, vol. 71, no. 4, p. 1287-1317
English
Abstract
Recent work in the physics literature demonstrates that, in particular classes of rotating spacetimes, physical light rays in general do not traverse null geodesics. Having presented this result, we discuss its philosophical significance, both for the clock hypothesis (and, in particular, a recent purported proof thereof for light clocks), and for the operational meaning of the metric field. 1Introduction2Fletcher's Theorem2.1Maudlin on the clock hypothesis in special relativity2.2Fletcher’s result in special relativity2.3Fletcher’s theorem in general relativity3Electromagnetism and the Geometrical-Optical Limit 3.1Maxwell’s equations in curved spacetime3.2The geometrical-optical limit3.3Rotating spacetimes3.4Aren’t Gödel spacetimes unphysical?4The Clock Hypothesis and Chronogeometry 4.1Natural and mathematical observations4.2Clock registry discord4.3Chronogeometry5Conclusion
- Language
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- English
- Open access status
- green
- Identifiers
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- DOI 10.1093/bjps/axy055
- ISSN 0007-0882
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/170954
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