Mass in the Light of Special Relativity
Abstract
The text analyzes the concept of mass within Special Relativity, initially deconstructing the interpretation of Einstein's equation (ε∘ = m c2) as a principle of equivalence. Based on the adoption of the conservation laws of momentum and energy, the non-additivity of mass in composite systems is established. While in atomic and nuclear systems the total mass is less than the sum of its constituents, in the subnuclear domain the opposite occurs: the positive potential energy of confinement of quarks causes the mass of a hadron to be greater than the sum of the masses of its quarks; in the case of nucleons, it is much greater. It is concluded, then, that the mass of baryonic matter in the observable Universe comes, for the most part, from the energy associated with strong interactions.
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BibTeX
@misc{caruso2026mass,
title = {{Mass in the Light of Special Relativity}},
author = {Francisco Caruso and Vitor Oguri},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.22382},
eprint = {2609.22382},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.22382},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Mass in the Light of Special Relativity
AU - Francisco Caruso
AU - Vitor Oguri
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/18
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.22382
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.22382
AB - The text analyzes the concept of mass within Special Relativity, initially deconstructing the interpretation of Einstein's equation (ε_∘ = m c^2) as a principle of equivalence. Based on the adoption of the conservation laws of momentum and energy, the non-additivity of mass in composite systems is established. While in atomic and nuclear systems the total mass is less than the sum of its constituents, in the subnuclear domain the opposite occurs: the positive potential energy of confinement of quarks causes the mass of a hadron to be greater than the sum of the masses of its quarks; in the case of nucleons, it is much greater. It is concluded, then, that the mass of baryonic matter in the observable Universe comes, for the most part, from the energy associated with strong interactions.
ER -