Einsteins Relativity Principle and Lorentz Transformations

Einstein s theory of special relativity relying on a modified principle cf relativity is presented and the Lorentz transformations are identified as the natural coordinate transformations of physics. This necessarily leads to a modification cf our perception of space and time and to the concept of a four-dimensional unified space-time. Its basic Mnematic and dynamical implications on classical mechanics are discussed. Maxwell s gauge theory of electrodynamics is presented in its natural covariant 4-vector form. 

In the last chapter the basic framework of classical nonrelativistic mechanics has been developed. This theory crucially relies on the Galilean principle of relativity (cf. section 2.1.2), which does not match experimental results for high velocities and therefore has to be replaced by the more general relativity principle of Einstein. It will directly lead to classical relativistic mechanics and electrodynamics, where again the term classical is used to distinguish this theory from the corresponding relativistic quantum theory to be presented in later chapters. 

It should be stressed that the material in this chapter, being a generalization of the nonrelativistic theory discussed in chapter 2, is organized in a similar fashion in order to clearly exhibit both the analogies and the differences from the nonrelativistic framework. It is therefore mandatory that the reader has fully grasped the essentials of sections 2.1 and 2.4. 

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