Re: A question on inelastic relativistic collisions
From: "JACK L. URETSKY (C)1998; HEP DIVISION, ARGONNE NATIONAL LAB ARGONNE, IL 60439" <JLU@HEP.ANL.GOV>
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 15:57:46 -0600
Hi all-
I picked up the thread at Sam Held's posting. It's not all
that difficult if you keep track of the kinds of quantities that
you're dealing with. Relativistic (general) thermo and hydro
dynamics is discussed in Chapter 22 of Misner, Thorne and Wheeler, with
plenty of references.
The point is that heat flow ("Q") is really a four-vector with
zero time-component in the rest frame. The mass that enters into heat
conduction measures the number of participating baryons, it is therefore
the rest mass (same value in every frame).
Any of the standard treatises on relativity should be an adequate
reference (if it discusses thermodynamics). Astrophysicists have been doing
relativistic thermodynamics for generations.
Regards,
Jack
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The arguments for the formulas I put up were made on the basis
that heat is not just pure Energy but also carries some momentum. When
Einstein and Planck (actually Planck first) made their calculations
based on the first law of thermo, they required a "fake force" that
carried the momentum. However, the first law considers heat to be pure
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"I scored the next great triumph for science myself,
to wit, how the milk gets into the cow. Both of us
had marveled over that mystery a long time. We had
followed the cows around for years - that is, in the
daytime - but had never caught them drinking fluid of
that color."
Mark Twain, Extract from Eve's
Autobiography