Relativistic Reflection of Light

TL;DRAbstract

In spite of the fact that the reflection of light by a mirror is involved in many relativistic arguments, the relativity of the reflection itself has not been adequately addressed. In a previous work on the relativistic refraction of light we found an inconvenient involving Snell law: by assuming the refractive index does not change with relative motion, the refraction of a visible laser beam does not follow Snell law when observed in relative motion [1]. Now it is the second law of the reflection of light which seems not to be satisfied when the reflection is observed in certain relativistic conditions. The argument is developed in basic geometry terms, without making additional physical assumption as in the case of Snell law. 1. A conflicting reflection Figure 1. The mirror M in its proper reference frame RFo. A photon moving through a vertical trajectory will be horizontally reflected. 1. As Figure 1 shows, the mirror M is attached to the inclined surface of a right angled structure

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper