History of Topics in Special Relativity/Lorentz transformation (trigonometric)

History of Lorentz transformation ()
Introduction Chapter 1: Most general Lorentz transformations Chapter 2: LT via imaginary orthogonal transformation Chapter 3: LT via hyperbolic functions Chapter 4: LT via velocity Chapter 5: LT via sphere transformation Chapter 6: LT via Cayley–Hermite transformation Chapter 7: LT via Cayley–Klein parameters, Möbius and spin transformations Chapter 8: LT via quaternions and hyperbolic numbers Chapter 9: LT via trigonometric functions Chapter 10: LT via squeeze mappings
History of Topics in Special Relativity () Multiple chapter topics History of Lorentz transformations History of relativistic four vectors History of relativistic tensors Single page topics History of twin paradox History of Penrose–Terrell effect History of time dilation History of three-acceleration transformation Müller's history of relativity

Lorentz transformation via trigonometric functions

The following general relation connects the speed of light and the relative velocity to hyperbolic and trigonometric functions, where $\eta$ is the rapidity in E:(3b), $\theta$ is equivalent to the w:Gudermannian function ${\rm {gd}}(\eta )=2\arctan(e^{\eta })-\pi /2$, and $\vartheta$ is equivalent to the Lobachevskian w:angle of parallelism $\Pi (\eta )=2\arctan(e^{-\eta })$:

${\frac {v}{c}}=\tanh \eta =\sin \theta =\cos \vartheta$

This relation was first defined by Varićak (1910).

a) Using $\sin \theta ={\tfrac {v}{c}}$ one obtains the relations $\sec \theta =\gamma$ and $\tan \theta =\beta \gamma$, and the Lorentz boost takes the form:

$\scriptstyle {\begin{matrix}-x_{0}^{2}+x_{1}^{2}+x_{2}^{2}=-x_{0}^{\prime 2}+x_{1}^{\prime 2}+x_{2}^{\prime 2}\\\hline \left.{\begin{aligned}x_{0}^{\prime }&=x_{0}\sec \theta -x_{1}\tan \theta &&={\frac {x_{0}-x_{1}\sin \theta }{\cos \theta }}\\x_{1}^{\prime }&=-x_{0}\tan \theta +x_{1}\sec \theta &&={\frac {-x_{0}\sin \theta +x_{1}}{\cos \theta }}\\x_{2}^{\prime }&=x_{2}\\\\x_{0}&=x_{0}^{\prime }\sec \theta +x_{1}^{\prime }\tan \theta &&={\frac {x_{0}^{\prime }+x_{1}^{\prime }\sin \theta }{\cos \theta }}\\x_{1}&=x_{0}^{\prime }\tan \theta +x_{1}^{\prime }\sec \theta &&={\frac {x_{0}^{\prime }\sin \theta +x_{1}^{\prime }}{\cos \theta }}\\x_{2}&=x_{2}^{\prime }\end{aligned}}\right|{\scriptstyle {\begin{aligned}\tan ^{2}\theta -\sec ^{2}\theta &=-1\\{\frac {\tan \theta }{\sec \theta }}&=\sin \theta \\{\frac {1}{\sqrt {1-\sin ^{2}\theta }}}&=\sec \theta \\{\frac {\sin \theta }{\sqrt {1-\sin ^{2}\theta }}}&=\tan \theta \end{aligned}}}\end{matrix}}$

(8a)

This Lorentz transformation was derived by Bianchi (1886) and Darboux (1891/94) while transforming pseudospherical surfaces, and by Scheffers (1899) as a special case of w:contact transformation in the plane (Laguerre geometry). In special relativity, it was first used by Plummer (1910), by Gruner (1921) while developing w:Loedel diagrams, and by w:Vladimir Karapetoff in the 1920s.

b) Using $\cos \vartheta ={\tfrac {v}{c}}$ one obtains the relations $\csc \vartheta =\gamma$ and $\cot \vartheta =\beta \gamma$, and the Lorentz boost takes the form:

$\scriptstyle {\begin{matrix}-x_{0}^{2}+x_{1}^{2}+x_{2}^{2}=-x_{0}^{\prime 2}+x_{1}^{\prime 2}+x_{2}^{\prime 2}\\\hline \left.{\begin{aligned}x_{0}^{\prime }&=x_{0}\csc \vartheta -x_{1}\cot \vartheta &&={\frac {x_{0}-x_{1}\cos \vartheta }{\sin \vartheta }}\\x_{1}^{\prime }&=-x_{0}\cot \vartheta +x_{1}\csc \vartheta &&={\frac {-x_{0}\cos \vartheta +x_{1}}{\sin \vartheta }}\\x_{2}^{\prime }&=x_{2}\\\\x_{0}&=x_{0}^{\prime }\csc \vartheta +x_{1}^{\prime }\cot \vartheta &&={\frac {x_{0}^{\prime }+x_{1}^{\prime }\cos \vartheta }{\sin \vartheta }}\\x_{1}&=x_{0}^{\prime }\cot \vartheta +x_{1}^{\prime }\csc \vartheta &&={\frac {x_{0}^{\prime }\cos \vartheta +x_{1}^{\prime }}{\sin \vartheta }}\\x_{2}&=x_{2}^{\prime }\end{aligned}}\right|{\scriptstyle {\begin{aligned}\cot ^{2}\vartheta -\csc ^{2}\vartheta &=-1\\{\frac {\cot \vartheta }{\csc \vartheta }}&=\cos \vartheta \\{\frac {1}{\sqrt {1-\cos ^{2}\vartheta }}}&=\csc \vartheta \\{\frac {\cos \vartheta }{\sqrt {1-\cos ^{2}\vartheta }}}&=\cot \vartheta \end{aligned}}}\end{matrix}}$

(8b)

This Lorentz transformation was derived by Eisenhart (1905) while transforming pseudospherical surfaces. In special relativity it was first used by Gruner (1921) while developing w:Loedel diagrams.

Historical notation

Bianchi (1886) – Pseudospherical surfaces

See also: History of Lorentz transformations via Möbius transformations § Bianchi

See also: History of Lorentz transformations via squeeze mappings § Bianchi

w:Luigi Bianchi (1886) investigated E:Lie's transformation (1880) of pseudospherical surfaces, obtaining the result:

${\begin{aligned}(1)\quad &u+v=2\alpha ,\ u-v=2\beta ;\\(2)\quad &\Omega \left(\alpha ,\beta \right)\Rightarrow \Omega \left(k\alpha ,\ {\frac {\beta }{k}}\right);\\(3)\quad &\theta (u,v)\Rightarrow \theta \left({\frac {u+v\sin \sigma }{\cos \sigma }},\ {\frac {u\sin \sigma +v}{\cos \sigma }}\right)=\Theta _{\sigma }(u,v);\\&{\text{Inverse:}}\left({\frac {u-v\sin \sigma }{\cos \sigma }},\ {\frac {-u\sin \sigma +v}{\cos \sigma }}\right)\\(4)\quad &{\frac {1}{2}}\left(k+{\frac {1}{k}}\right)={\frac {1}{\cos \sigma }},\ {\frac {1}{2}}\left(k-{\frac {1}{k}}\right)={\frac {\sin \sigma }{\cos \sigma }}\end{aligned}}$.

Transformation (3) and its inverse are equivalent to trigonometric Lorentz boost (8a), and becomes Lorentz boost of velocity with $\sin \sigma ={\tfrac {v}{c}}$.

Darboux (1891/94) – Pseudospherical surfaces

See also: History of Lorentz transformations via sphere transformations § Darboux

See also: History of Lorentz transformations via Cayley-Hermite transformations § Darboux

See also: History of Lorentz transformations via squeeze mappings § Darboux

Similar to Bianchi (1886), w:Gaston Darboux (1891/94) showed that the E:Lie's transformation (1880) gives rise to the following relations:

${\begin{aligned}(1)\quad &u+v=2\alpha ,\ u-v=2\beta ;\\(2)\quad &\omega =\varphi \left(\alpha ,\beta \right)\Rightarrow \omega =\varphi \left(\alpha m,\ {\frac {\beta }{m}}\right)\\(3)\quad &\omega =\psi (u,v)\Rightarrow \omega =\psi \left({\frac {u+v\sin h}{\cos h}},\ {\frac {v+u\sin h}{\cos h}}\right)\end{aligned}}$.

Equations (1) together with transformation (2) gives Lorentz boost E:(9a) in terms of null coordinates. Transformation (3) is equivalent to trigonometric Lorentz boost (8a), and becomes Lorentz boost E:(4a) with $\sin h={\tfrac {v}{c}}$.

Scheffers (1899) – Contact transformation

See also: History of Lorentz transformations via sphere transformations § Scheffers

w:Georg Scheffers (1899) synthetically determined all finite w:contact transformations preserving circles in the plane, consisting of dilatations, inversions, and the following one preserving circles and lines (compare with Laguerre inversion by E:Laguerre (1882) and Darboux (1887)):

${\begin{matrix}\sigma ^{\prime 2}-\rho ^{\prime 2}=\sigma ^{2}-\rho ^{2}\\\hline \rho '={\frac {\rho }{\cos \omega }}+\sigma \tan \omega ,\quad \sigma '=\rho \tan \omega +{\frac {\sigma }{\cos \omega }}\end{matrix}}$

This is equivalent to Lorentz transformation (8a) by the identity $\sec \omega ={\tfrac {1}{\cos \omega }}$.

Eisenhart (1905) – Pseudospherical surfaces

See also: History of Lorentz transformations via squeeze mappings § Eisenhart

w:Luther Pfahler Eisenhart (1905) followed Bianchi (1886, 1894) and Darboux (1891/94) by writing the E:Lie's transformation (1880) of pseudospherical surfaces:

${\begin{aligned}(1)\quad &\alpha ={\frac {u+v}{2}},\ \beta ={\frac {u-v}{2}}\\(2)\quad &\omega \left(\alpha ,\beta \right)\Rightarrow \omega \left(m\alpha ,\ {\frac {\beta }{m}}\right)\\(3)\quad &\omega (u,v)\Rightarrow \omega (\alpha +\beta ,\ \alpha -\beta )\Rightarrow \omega \left(\alpha m+{\frac {\beta }{m}},\ \alpha m-{\frac {\beta }{m}}\right)\\&\Rightarrow \omega \left[{\frac {\left(m^{2}+1\right)u+\left(m^{2}-1\right)v}{2m}},\ {\frac {\left(m^{2}-1\right)u+\left(m^{2}+1\right)v}{2m}}\right]\\(4)\quad &m={\frac {1-\cos \sigma }{\sin \sigma }}\Rightarrow \omega \left({\frac {u-v\cos \sigma }{\sin \sigma }},\ {\frac {v-u\cos \sigma }{\sin \sigma }}\right)\end{aligned}}$.

Equations (1) together with transformation (2) gives Lorentz boost E:(9a) in terms of null coordinates. Transformation (3) is equivalent to Lorentz boost E:(9b) in terms of Bondi's k factor, as well as Lorentz boost E:(6f) with $m=\alpha ^{2}$. Transformation (4) is equivalent to trigonometric Lorentz boost (8b), and becomes Lorentz boost E:(4b) with $\cos \sigma ={\tfrac {v}{c}}$. Eisenhart's angle σ corresponds to ϑ of Lorentz boost E:(9d).

Varićak (1910) – Circular and Hyperbolic functions

See also: History of Lorentz transformations via hyperbolic functions § Varicak

Relativistic velocity in terms of trigonometric functions and its relation to hyperbolic functions was demonstrated by w:Vladimir Varićak in several papers starting from 1910, who represented the equations of special relativity on the basis of w:hyperbolic geometry in terms of Weierstrass coordinates. For instance, he showed the relation of rapidity to the w:Gudermannian function and the w:angle of parallelism:

${\frac {v}{c}}=\operatorname {th} u=\operatorname {tg} \psi =\sin \operatorname {gd} (u)=\cos \Pi (u)$

This is the foundation of Lorentz transformation (8a) and (8b).

Plummer (1910) – Trigonometric Lorentz boosts

w:Henry Crozier Keating Plummer (1910) defined the following relations

${\begin{matrix}\tau =t\sec \beta -x\tan \beta /U\\\xi =x\sec \beta -Ut\tan \beta \\\eta =y,\ \zeta =z,\\\hline \sin \beta =v/U\end{matrix}}$

This is equivalent to Lorentz transformation (8a).

Gruner (1921) – Trigonometric Lorentz boosts

In order to simplify the graphical representation of Minkowski space, w:Paul Gruner (1921) (with the aid of Josef Sauter) developed what is now called w:Loedel diagrams, using the following relations:

${\begin{matrix}v=\alpha \cdot c;\quad \beta ={\frac {1}{\sqrt {1-\alpha ^{2}}}}\\\sin \varphi =\alpha ;\quad \beta ={\frac {1}{\cos \varphi }};\quad \alpha \beta =\tan \varphi \\\hline x'={\frac {x}{\cos \varphi }}-t\cdot \tan \varphi ,\quad t'={\frac {t}{\cos \varphi }}-x\cdot \tan \varphi \end{matrix}}$

This is equivalent to Lorentz transformation (8a) by the identity $\sec \varphi ={\tfrac {1}{\cos \varphi }}$

In another paper Gruner used the alternative relations:

${\begin{matrix}\alpha ={\frac {v}{c}};\ \beta ={\frac {1}{\sqrt {1-\alpha ^{2}}}};\\\cos \theta =\alpha ={\frac {v}{c}};\ \sin \theta ={\frac {1}{\beta }};\ \cot \theta =\alpha \cdot \beta \\\hline x'={\frac {x}{\sin \theta }}-t\cdot \cot \theta ,\quad t'={\frac {t}{\sin \theta }}-x\cdot \cot \theta \end{matrix}}$

This is equivalent to Lorentz Lorentz boost (8b) by the identity $\csc \theta ={\tfrac {1}{\sin \theta }}$.

References

Historical mathematical sources

• Bianchi, L. (1886), Lezioni di geometria differenziale, Pisa: Nistri
• Darboux, G. (1894) [1891], Leçons sur la théorie générale des surfaces. Troisième partie, Paris: Gauthier-Villars This third part of his lectures was initially published in three steps: première fascicule (1890), deuxième fascicule (1891), and troisième fascicule (1895). The discussion of the Lie transform appears in the deuxième fascicule published in 1891.
• Eisenhart, L. P. (1905), "Surfaces with the same Spherical Representation of their Lines of Curvature as Pseudospherical Surfaces", American Journal of Mathematics, 27 (2): 113–172, doi:10.2307/2369977
• Scheffers, G. (1899), "Synthetische Bestimmung aller Berührungstransformationen der Kreise in der Ebene", Leipziger Math.-Phys. Berichte, 51: 145–160

Historical relativity sources

• Gruner, P.; Sauter, J. (1921a), "Représentation géométrique élémentaire des formules de la théorie de la relativité", Archives des sciences physiques et naturelles, 5, 3: 295–296{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

See also the transcription Elementary geometric representation of the formulas of the special theory of relativity on English Wikisource

• Gruner, P. (1921b), "Eine elementare geometrische Darstellung der Transformationsformeln der speziellen Relativitätstheorie", Physikalische Zeitschrift, 22: 384–385

See also the transcription An elementary geometrical representation of the transformation formulas of the special theory of relativity on English Wikisource

• Plummer, H.C.K. (1910), "On the Theory of Aberration and the Principle of Relativity", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 40: 252–266, Bibcode:1910MNRAS..70..252P

See also the transcription On the Theory of Aberration and the Principle of Relativity on English Wikisource

• Varićak, V. (1910), "Anwendung der Lobatschefskijschen Geometrie in der Relativtheorie", Physikalische Zeitschrift, 11: 93–6

See also the transcription Anwendung der Lobatschefskijschen Geometrie in der Relativtheorie on German Wikisource

See also the transcription Application of Lobachevskian Geometry in the Theory of Relativity on English Wikisource

Secondary sources

• Majerník, V. (1986), "Representation of relativistic quantities by trigonometric functions", American Journal of Physics, 54 (6): 536–538, doi:10.1119/1.14557