McKinstrie & Kozlov Detail a Simpler Path to Wigner Angle Values

Calculating relativistic motion becomes surprisingly complex as dimensions increase, according to new work by C. J. McKinstrie and M. V. Kozlov. While combining velocities in one dimension is straightforward, their analysis reveals that combining two boosts in time and two spatial dimensions always results in a boost followed by a rotation; this rotation defines the Wigner angle. Determining the energy and direction of the combined boost is relatively simple, but the researchers found calculating the Wigner angle itself is difficult. “If one looks at the problem in the right way, it is not…