sci.physics.research

Just FYI:

I worked out some results for constant 1g accelerations some years
ago, and published those (and other) results here:

"Accelerated Observers in Special Relativity",
PHYSICS ESSAYS, December 1999, p629.

I didn't investigate what those results imply about a light pulse
that is emitted after the traveler departs, so I can't comment
directly on your statements. But my results might help as a
cross-check on your results. Two of those results are given in the
abstract of my paper (as items 4 and 5), and I include that
abstract on my webpage:

/~mlfasf

I'll reproduce those two results here:

4. According to an accelerating observer, for a one g
acceleration occurring when the separation is sufficiently
great, the object's maximum (in magnitude) rate of ageing
is greater than the accelerating observer's rate of ageing
by a factor approximately equal to their separation, as
measured in the object's frame, in lightyears. If the
observer is accelerating toward the object, the object will
be getting older at that rate. If the observer is
accelerating away from the object, the object will be
getting younger at that rate.

5. If an observer undergoes a constant acceleration forever,
the object's age will approach a finite limit, according to
the observer. If their initial separation has a certain
critical value, the object's age will never change at all,
according to the observer.

Item 4 seems to imply that, at least if the traveler starts
sufficiently far away from the emission of the light pulse,
then the pulse can never catch him (because the current time
at the location of the emitter DECREASES monotonically as
the traveler accelerates (according to the traveler). So in
that case, he would conclude that the pulse is never emitted
at all.

If he starts his acceleration at the location of the emitter,
then the current time at the emitter will INCREASE monotonically
(and will approach a finite limit). (That result is given
in the paper, but not in the abstract). So in this case, my
results don't immediately rule out that the pulse can ever catch
him. I don't know what my results imply about your question in
that case (if anything)...I never investigated that. But the
equations that I derive for the 1g case might help you check your
conclusions.

Mike Fontenot

Chalky wrote:
>
> I am attempting to clarify, in my own mind, the physics that can be
> seen from the reference frame of an observer who accelerates away from
> an inertial origin at a constant g.
>
> As far as I can tell, that observer should
>
> 1) outrun any photon emitted from that origin after gt = c, and,
> consequently,
> 2) observe infinite redshift of that origin when gt = c.
>
> 3) Therefore, that accelerating observer should _see_ that origin
> accelerate away over time, in strict accordance with the rules of
> Newtonian physics, such that v = gt, and d = gt*t/2, with no
> relativistic deviations, until the limit of v = c
>
> I would appreciate clarification of whether these 3 inferences are
> correct.
>