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I was reading this article and got to the part where the homogeneity of space and time leads to the linearity of the transformations between inertial frames.

In particular, the function $x^\prime=X(x,t)$ is shown to have the property $$\left.\frac{\partial X}{\partial x}\right|_{x_2} = \left.\frac{\partial X}{\partial x}\right|_{x_1},\forall x_1,x_2.\tag{12}$$ Because of the arbitrariness of $x_1$ and $x_2$, the author says that the partial derivative shuld be independent of $x$ so that the function $X(x,t)$ is linear in $x$. I agree with that but somehow the author blends this concept with the constancy of the partial derivative, which I think can't be deduced from the previous argument.

In general, if $\frac{\partial X}{\partial x}$ is the same regardless the two coordinates $x_1$ and $x_2$, its general form would be $\frac{\partial X}{\partial x}=f(t)$ which is not necessarily a constant. Therefore, we can't say $x^\prime = Ax + Bt$ but rather $x^\prime = A(t)x + B(x)t$.

Where am I wrong?

Qmechanic
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Xyffar
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  • Can you not use the same argument to show that $$ \frac{\partial X}{\partial t}\Big|{t_1} = \frac{\partial X}{\partial t}\Big|{t_2} $$ for arbitrary $t_1$ and $t_2$? Then $X$ needs to be linear in $x$ and in $t$. Apologies if I'm missing something :) – Andrew Dec 30 '23 at 00:18
  • Well, the transformation $x^\prime=Axt$ (just as example) is compatible with the two partial derivatives being independent on $x$ and $t$ respectively and yet it is wrong. – Xyffar Dec 30 '23 at 00:36
  • I suspect you should be able to prove that $\frac{\partial X}{\partial x}$ is actually independent of the event for a homogenous spacetime (ie, both $x, t$ and not just $x$). However I don't have an argument on hand and I don't know what your text is arguing. One thing I would check is whether your source's argument logically goes through if you replace $x_1$ and $x_2$ (where the derivatives are evaluated) with $(x_1, t_1)$ and $(x_2, t_2)$ for arbitrary $x_1, x_2, t_1, t_2$. Sometimes physics books just aren't very explicit. I think you should be able to prove that statement. – Andrew Dec 30 '23 at 00:39
  • I thought about it but I don't think it's viable. The reason is that the starting point of the argument is the length of a rod which is $x_2-x_1$, at a certain time $t$. Therefore, I cannot couple $x_1$ with $t_1$ and $x_2$ with $t_2$ because the length of a rod is defined as the difference of its coordinates at the same time. – Xyffar Dec 30 '23 at 00:52
  • I think you've got to use homogeneity of time. In your source, that should mean that equations 9 and 10 for $\ell'$ hold for arbitrary $t$ (the length of the rod should not change in time if there's no force acting on it). Therefore the spatial derivative is independent of $t$ as well as $x$. Then as the text says you should be able to run a similar argument to show that the time derivative doesn't depend on $x$ or $t$. – Andrew Dec 30 '23 at 00:57
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  • @Andrew, this doesn't convince me. If I say that a function has the same value for two arbitrary $x$'s regardless the $t$, this means that for any $t$ the function is constant with $x$. Therefore, it can still vary with $t$ as long as it is constant once we fix the $t$. Any $f(t)$ would satisfy that. – Xyffar Dec 30 '23 at 12:44

1 Answers1

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Summary of text by Pal

First, let me summarize what is written in the relevant parts of the linked source by the OP.

Consider a $1+1$ dimensional spacetime (one spatial and one time dimension). Let $x, t$ be the coordinates of an event in an inertial frame $S$, and $x', t'$ be the coordinates of the same event in inertial frame $S'$, moving at velocity $v$ with respect to $S$.

Now $x'$ and $t'$ are related to $x$ and $t$ via \begin{eqnarray} x' &=& X(x, t, v) \\ t' &=& T(x, t, v) \end{eqnarray} Now we consider a rod that is stationary in frame $S$ with endpoints $x_1, x_2$ ($x_2>x_1$), with length $\ell$. In $S'$, at time $t$ the endpoints will be at $X(x_1, t, v)$ and $X(x_2, t, v)$, so the length in $S'$ is given by $$ \ell' = X(x_2, t, v) - X(x_1, t, v) $$ Now we displace the rod in so that in frame $S$, the endpoints shift to $x_1+h$ and $x_2+h$. Then in frame $S'$, the endpoints are also shifted. However, by assumption of the homogeneity of space, the length in $S'$ can't be affected by simply shifting the endpoints of the rod. Therefore $$ \ell' = X(x_2+h, t, v) - X(x_1+h, t, v) $$ Since $\ell'=\ell'$, we can equate the two relations above and take the limit $h\rightarrow 0$ to conclude $$ \frac{\partial X}{\partial x}\Big|_{x_1} = \frac{\partial X}{\partial x}\Big|_{x_2} $$ As the OP argues, this condition by itself only is enough to argue that $$ X(t) = f(t) x + g(t) $$

Pal then states:

One can similarly argue, invoking the homogeneity of time as well, that both $X(x, t, v)$ and $T(x, t, v)$ are linear in the arguments $x$ and $t$.

I believe the OP's question can be answered by unpacking this statement. In particular, there are other relations that hold, such as

\begin{eqnarray} \frac{\partial X}{\partial t}\Big|_{t_1} &=& \frac{\partial X}{\partial t}\Big|_{t_2} \\ \frac{\partial T}{\partial x}\Big|_{x_1} &=& \frac{\partial T}{\partial x}\Big|_{x_2} \\ \frac{\partial T}{\partial t}\Big|_{t_1} &=& \frac{\partial T}{\partial t}\Big|_{t_2} \end{eqnarray} where $x_1, x_2$ and $t_1, t_2$ are arbitrary (and therefore the equations hold for any $x, t$).

Once all the conditions on partial derivatives are derived, it then follows that (as Pal says "making the trivial choice that the origins of the two frames coincide, i.e., $x = t = 0$ implies $x′ = t′ = 0$"), that \begin{eqnarray} X(x,t,v) &=& A_v x + B_v t \\ T(x,t,v) &=& C_v x + D_v t \end{eqnarray}

I'll show how this works for $X$ explicitly, then wave my hands and say $T$ is similar.

Finishing the case of $X$

Recall that originally we have the length in frame $S'$ is given by $$ \ell' = X(x_2, t, v) - X(x_1, t, v) $$ To generalize the argument above to look at time derivatives of $X$, we merely shift the rod in time by an amount $\delta$. By homogeneity in time, the length in frame $S'$ can't change if we merely shift the rod forward in time. So we must have

$$ \ell' = X(x_2, t+\delta, v) - X(x_1, t+\delta, v) $$ Equating $\ell'=\ell'$, and rearranging, we get that $$ \frac{\partial X}{\partial t}\Big|_{x_1, t} = \frac{\partial X}{\partial t}\Big|_{x_2, t} $$ If we apply this to to form $X = f(t) x + g(t)$ we derived earlier, we find

$$ f'(t) (x_2 - x_1) = 0 $$ Since this condition must hold for any $x_2$ and $x_1$, we conclude that $f'(t) = 0$. Therefore, $f$ must simply be a constant in time.

However, we still have $g(t)$.

To get a handle on this, we have to consider a different scenario. We consider two points at the same position but different times in frame $S$. We then consider what those points look like in frame $S'$.

We can consider $$ \Delta x' = X(x, t_2, v) - X(x, t_1, v) $$ Now here's the kicker. If we shift $t_2$ and $t_1$ by the same amount $\delta$, by homogeneity in space and time, $\Delta x'$ can't change. So $$ \Delta x' = X(x, t_2 + \delta, v) - X(x, t_1 + \delta, v) $$ Rearranging, we get $$ \frac{\partial X}{\partial t}\Big|_{t1} = \frac{\partial X}{\partial t}\Big|_{t2} $$ Applying that to what we had before, we find $g'(t_1)=g'(t_2)$ for all $t_1$ and $t_2$, so $g^\prime$ is a constant and $g$ is a linear function of $t$.

Sketch of $T$

To do the argument for $T$, instead of the length of a rod, we can consider the time difference between two events that occur at the same spatial location in the frame $S$.

Xyffar
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Andrew
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  • Ta-daa. This is what I was really looking for. This convinced me. Thank you so much! – Xyffar Jan 01 '24 at 17:13
  • @Xyffar Glad it helped! If you think this answers your question, feel free to upvote/accept the answer :) – Andrew Jan 01 '24 at 19:39