Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 A Brief Introduction to Special Relativity and Light
- 2 An Introduction to Relativistic Kinematics, Kinetics and Energy
- 3 Relativity and Electromagnetic Fields
- 4 Electromagnetic Wave Interactions with Plasma and Other Matter
- 5 Particle Motion and Radiation in Electric and Magnetic Fields
- 6 Photon and Particle Distribution Functions
- 7 Radiation Emission, Absorption, and Scatter in Plasmas
- 8 Collisional Processes
- 9 Relativistic Optics
- 10 Solutions to Selected Exercises
- Appendix A Lorentz Invariant Quantities
- Appendix B Modified Bessel Functions of the Second Kind
- Appendix C The Chemical Potential Variation with Density
- References
- Index
1 - A Brief Introduction to Special Relativity and Light
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 November 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 A Brief Introduction to Special Relativity and Light
- 2 An Introduction to Relativistic Kinematics, Kinetics and Energy
- 3 Relativity and Electromagnetic Fields
- 4 Electromagnetic Wave Interactions with Plasma and Other Matter
- 5 Particle Motion and Radiation in Electric and Magnetic Fields
- 6 Photon and Particle Distribution Functions
- 7 Radiation Emission, Absorption, and Scatter in Plasmas
- 8 Collisional Processes
- 9 Relativistic Optics
- 10 Solutions to Selected Exercises
- Appendix A Lorentz Invariant Quantities
- Appendix B Modified Bessel Functions of the Second Kind
- Appendix C The Chemical Potential Variation with Density
- References
- Index
Summary
The chapter commences with an introduction to the ideas of special relativity. A brief discussion of the life and work of Albert Einstein is presented. The propagation of light, relativistic time dilation, and length contraction followed by a simple explanation of the production of light by accelerating charges are presented.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022