Johann Rafelski, Department of Physics, The University of Arizona
Special Relativity and Strong Fields: A personal perspective
All theories in physics satisfy the principle of relativity. The relativistic formulation of electromagnetic interactions is for historical reasons called Special Relativity (SR) and that of gravity GR.SR experiences a renaissance as a discipline and is rapidly evolving: We are probing the acceleration/strong electromagnetic field frontier in relativistic heavy ion experiments, and thinking ahead to the very high intensity laser-particle interaction. These frontier domains of physics are demanding researchers properly trained in SR. Yet this old domains of physics is poorly represented in many introductory text book used by out of field lecturers. The unfinished formulation of SR when strong fields are present compounds the student confusion. A new book "Modern Special Relativity" https://link.springer.com/book/9783030543518 provides historical background as motivation to return to the topic and aims at a very elementary level to resolve some of the misunderstandings while motivating students to embark on study of the acceleration frontier.