Extending the Relativity of Time

More than 100 years ago, Einstein’s special relativity demonstrated that time is a relative notion. The observed rate of a moving clock differs from the rate of a stationary clock. In fact, the observed rate depends on the clock’s velocity. All admissible velocities are bounded by the speed of light. These predictions of special relativity have been verified experimentally in several different ways. It is natural to ask whether acceleration also influences the observed rate of a moving clock in addition to the influence due to its velocity. Today, there are several existing experimental techniques to test whether acceleration influences the observed rate of a clock. We introduce here an extension of special relativity, which we call extended relativity (ER), by assuming that acceleration effects the observed rate of a clock. We derive transformations between uniformly accelerated systems in ER. We show that ER predicts that there is a maximal acceleration. We obtain relativistic dynamics in ER. We show that Kundig’s 1963 experiment indicates that acceleration does influence the rate of a clock, supporting the ER model and providing an estimate for the maximal acceleration. We will present an upcoming experiment which is designed to test whether acceleration influences the rate of a clock, and to determine the value of the maximal acceleration. A map for physics under ER will be presented. We will show how ER handles black-body radiation and some quantum properties of a Hydrogen-like atom.