Adrian Sfarti
Adrian Sfarti | |
|---|---|
| Known for | Single-postulate derivations of special relativity and critiques of relativity "revisionism" |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics, Special relativity |
| Institutions | University of California, Berkeley |
Adrian Sfarti is a researcher and author who has published extensively on the foundations of special relativity. He has been affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley, and is listed in The Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists.
Work
Sfarti argues that special relativity can be derived from the single principle of relativity, without invoking a separate postulate on the constancy of the speed of light. In his account, the second postulate merely fixes the numerical value of a free parameter appearing in the generalized Lorentz transformations. He has developed these ideas in a series of papers in Physics Essays, including "Single-Postulate Theory of Relativity and Generalization of the Clock Synchronization Principle," and in the book Relativistic Forces in Special and General Relativity (Cambridge Scholars Publishing).
He has also written on the relativistic Doppler effect, the Trouton–Rankine experiment, the Sagnac effect, the Thomas–Wigner rotation, and derivations of relativistic fictitious forces (Coriolis, centrifugal and Euler) in rotating frames, and has published critical responses to what he terms "revisionism" in relativity. While Sfarti frames much of his work as reinforcing rather than overturning relativity, his single-postulate program and related foundational critiques place him among authors challenging the standard textbook presentation of the theory.