Noninertial Reference Frames in Special Relativity
Abstract
Although the special theory of relativity was conceived to relate inertial reference frames, it is not generally known by beginning students, or even by academics not specializing in general relativity, that it can be applied to noninertial reference frames. The general perception among non-specialists seems to be that noninertial reference frames can only be described through general relativity. This situation has led to some controversy regarding the necessity of general relativity to address problems involving accelerated systems, such as the twin paradox and the description of rotating reference frames. We discuss the controversy and propose that, to avoid the present confusion, the local validity of special relativity in the absence of gravitation, despite the use of noninertial frames, should be explicitly and clearly stated at an early stage of the learning process.
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BibTeX
@misc{lambare2026noninertial,
title = {{Noninertial Reference Frames in Special Relativity}},
author = {Justo Pastor Lambare},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.07095},
eprint = {2610.07095},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.07095},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Noninertial Reference Frames in Special Relativity
AU - Justo Pastor Lambare
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/05
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.07095
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.07095
AB - Although the special theory of relativity was conceived to relate inertial reference frames, it is not generally known by beginning students, or even by academics not specializing in general relativity, that it can be applied to noninertial reference frames. The general perception among non-specialists seems to be that noninertial reference frames can only be described through general relativity. This situation has led to some controversy regarding the necessity of general relativity to address problems involving accelerated systems, such as the twin paradox and the description of rotating reference frames. We discuss the controversy and propose that, to avoid the present confusion, the local validity of special relativity in the absence of gravitation, despite the use of noninertial frames, should be explicitly and clearly stated at an early stage of the learning process.
ER -