2010-11-05

Time Dilation Again - Much Ado about Nothing?

Preliminaries

The Lorentz transforms in the Theory of Special Relativity (SR) between frames O and O' defined in the usual way are given by
t' = L (t - vx)
x' = L (x - vt)
where v is the relative velocity of the origin of O' with respect to the origin of O (along the x-direction), L = (1 - v^2)^(-1/2) > 1, and t is measured in terms of distance so that the velocity of light, c, becomes equal to 1.

Time Dilation
The usual treatment of Time Dilation is as follows. For a clock situated at the origin of O' we have x'=0, so that
x = vt
and
t' = L (1-v^2) t = t/L
Since L > 1, this means that the clock at the origin of O' runs slower by a factor of L compared to the clock in the frame of O which is coincident with it. This has been called Time Dilation. And the usual interpretation is that the clocks in the frame of O' actually tick slower than those in O. This is further taken to mean that O' physically ages slower than O.

What does the origin of O see?
Consider the perspective of the observer located at the origin of O. She sees clocks of O' going past her with speed v in the x-direction. At any given instant t, at the origin of O (i.e. x=0) we get,
t' = Lt
This means that the clocks of O' coincident with the origin of O run faster by exactly the same factor L. (Ultimately, this is to be expected due to the symmetry of the Lorentz transforms and the Principle of Relativity.)

Now, the observer located at the origin of O would conclude that the clocks of O' run faster than her clock. This is at variance with the observer located at x(=vt) in O who, as we have seen earlier, concludes that the clocks of O' run slower in comparison. In fact, different observers located at different points in the frame of O all come to different conclusions about the rate at which clocks in O' tick. Interestingly, there is a locus of events given by
x = t (L - 1) / (Lv)
where the clocks of O and O' agree. This locus lies between the world lines of O and O'.

Nowhere have I seen the argument that the observations of the observer at the origin of O should be used to conclude that the exact opposite of Time Dilation takes place!

What does all this really mean?
Ultimately, this boils down to the fact that frames O and O' don't agree on the assignment of space-time coordinates to space-time events. According to O, the clocks of O' are not synchronized correctly. And according to O', the clocks of O are not synchronized correctly. However, neither O nor O' can argue that the intrinsic rate at which their individual clocks tick vary merely due to the relative velocity between the two frames. This also follows from the Principle of Relativity because neither frame is privileged. In fact, time as a measurement of physical/dynamical/physiological duration has to tick at the same rate in both frames. This is because the Lorentz transforms are kinematical and do not include any dynamical effects that would affect the physiological rate of ageing. At best, the Lorentz transforms should be interpreted as scaling transforms that maintain covariance between two inertially moving frames (i.e. the speed of light, c, remains 1 in both frames).

2010-08-24

Verbs in दीवान्-ए ग़ालिब्

This post is a follow-up on "A Deluge of Verbs ...?" which reiterated the opinion that (non-compound) verbs are falling out of use in literary उर्दू. To arrive at a metric of this phenomenon, one method is to enumerate the verbs found in the works of famous poets. Who better to start off with than ग़ालिब्!

The following verbs encountered in दीवान्-ए ग़ालिब् have been extracted by me manually. Those listed in parenthesis occur as verbal nouns; however, because of the rather interrupted nature of this project, I've not been consistent in terms of exactly when I noted something down as a verbal noun and when I didn't. Nevertheless, this list gives a fairly good idea of the verbs which were in vogue in literary उर्दू; and things haven't change significantly since then.

This is a Work-In-Progress, and this post will get updated as and when I get the chance to pump effort into it.

Notes
- कर्‌ना and होना are not noted, but देना and लेना are.
- Verbs that occur in a रदीफ़् are noted just once under the "Common:" label for that ग़ज़ल्.
- The ग़ज़ल्s and शॆऽर्s are listed in the order they appear in "A Desertful of Roses" by Frances W. Pritchett.

2010-08-03

रोते भी रहे , हँस्‌ते भी रहे ...

In Lighter Vein

During a spaced-out drive today, I was listening to a बिहाग्-esque rendition by बेगम् अख़्तर् of सुदर्शन् फ़ाख़िर्'s "ऽइश्क़् मेँ ग़ैरत्-ए जज़्बात् ने रोने न दिया" when I realized that I could wholesale replace "रोना" with "हँस्‌ना" and it would still mean something tangible (albeit, as a spoof). So, here goes, with more than due apologies to फ़ाख़िर्:

(१)
ऽइश्क़् मेँ ग़ैरत्-ए जज़्बात् ने हँस्‌ने न दिया
वर्नः क्या बात् थी किस् बात् ने हँस्‌ने न दिया

(२)
आप् कह्‌ते थे कि हँस्‌ने से न बद्‌लेँगे नसीब्
ऽउम्र् भर् आप् की इस् बात् ने हँस्‌ने न दिया

(३)
हँस्‌ने वालोँ से कहो उन् का भी हँस्‌ना हँस्‌ लेँ
जिन् को मज्बूरी-ए हालात् ने हँस्‌ने न दिया

(४)
तुझ्‌से मिल्‌कर् हमेँ हँस्‌ना था, बहुत् हँस्‌ना था
तंगी-ए वक़्त्-ए मुलाक़ात् ने हँस्‌ने न दिया

(५)
एक् दो रोज् का सद्मः हो तो हँस्‌लेँ "फ़ाख़िर्"
हम् को हर् रोज़् के सद्मात् ने हँस्‌ने न दिया

Interestingly, the मत्लऽ (शॆऽर् १) and मक़्तऽ (शॆऽर् ५) actually work really well; infact, the मक़्तऽ is perfect. It's only शॆऽर् २ which stands out as odd. शॆऽर् ३ kind of makes sense. शॆऽर् ४ reads rather nicely.

2010-07-17

The Hindi-Urdu Dichotomy

The Hindi-Urdu Question

Urdu and Hindi are generally held to be two distinct languages in popular opinion. And, indeed, viewed through the narrow sociolinguistic lens, there is no arguing that these are two distinct languages. However, what about linguists at large? Do they agree?

Much work on addressing this issue has already been done. So, instead of re-inventing the wheel, allow me to simply borrow from existing work and synthesize it in this post. This post remains a work-in-progress and will continue to be updated and augmented as and when I get the opportunity to do so.

2010-01-30

Ardipithecus ramidus - Understanding Human Origins

The following is a précis of the Authors' summaries from the "Ardipithecus issue" of Science (2 October 2009).