Coordinate time and proper time in the GPS

The Global Positioning System (GPS) provides an excellent educational example as to how the theory of general relativity is put into practice and becomes part of our everyday life. This paper gives a short and instructive derivation of an important formula used in the GPS, and is aimed at graduate students and general physicists. The theoretical background of the GPS (see \cite{ashby}) uses the Schwarzschild spacetime to deduce the {\it approximate} formula, ds/dt\approx 1+V-\frac{|\vv|^2}{2}, for the relation between the proper time rate $s$ of a satellite clock and the coordinate time rate $t$. Here $V$ is the gravitational potential at the position of the satellite and \vv is its velocity (with light-speed being normalized as $c=1$). In this note we give a different derivation of this formula, {\it without using approximations}, to arrive at ds/dt=\sqrt{1+2V-|\vv|^2 -\frac{2V}{1+2V}(\n\cdot\vv)^2}, where \n is the normal vector pointing outward from the center of Earth to the satellite. In particular, if the satellite moves along a circular orbit then the formula simplifies to ds/dt=\sqrt{1+2V-|\vv|^2}. We emphasize that this derivation is useful mainly for educational purposes, as the approximation above is already satisfactory in practice.Comment: 5 pages, revised, over-over-simplified... Does anyone care that the GPS uses an approximate formula, while a precise one is available in just a few lines??? Physicists don'

An improvement on the Delsarte-type LP-bound with application to MUBs

The linear programming (LP) bound of Delsarte can be applied to several problems in various branches of mathematics. We describe a general Fourier analytic method to get a slight improvement on this bound. We then apply our method to the problem of mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) to prove that the Fourier family $F(a,b)$ in dimension 6 cannot be extended to a full system of MUBs.Comment: 10 page

Tiles with no spectra

We exhibit a subset of a finite Abelian group, which tiles the group by translation, and such that its tiling complements do not have a common spectrum (orthogonal basis for their L-2 space consisting of group characters). This disproves the Universal Spectrum Conjecture of Lagarias and Wang [7]. Further, we construct a set in some finite Abelian group, which tiles the group but has no spectrum. We extend this last example to the groups Z(d) and R-d (for d >= 5) thus disproving one direction of the Spectral Set Conjecture of Fuglede [1]. The other direction was recently disproved by Tao [12]

Complex Hadamard matrices and the spectral set conjecture

By analyzing the connection between complex Hadamard matrices and spectral sets, we prove the direction "spectral double right arrow tile" of the Spectral Set Conjecture, for all sets A of size \A\ <= 5, in any finite Abelian group. This result is then extended to the infinite grid Z(d) for any dimension d, and finally to R-d. It was pointed out recently in [16] that the corresponding statement fails for \A\ = 6 in the group Z(3)(5), and this observation quickly led to the failure of the Spectral Set Conjecture in R-5 [16], and subsequently in R-4 [13]. In the second part of this note we reduce this dimension further, showing that the direction "spectral double right arrow tile" of the Spectral Set Conjecture is false already in dimension 3. In a computational search for counterexamples in lower dimension (one and two) one needs, at the very least, to be able to decide efficiently if a set is a tile (in, say, a cyclic group) and if it is spectral. Such efficient procedures are lacking however and we make a few comments for the computational complexity of some related problems

Thomas rotation and Thomas precession

Exact and simple calculation of Thomas rotation and Thomas precessions along a circular world line is presented in an absolute (coordinate-free) formulation of special relativity. Besides the simplicity of calculations the absolute treatment of spacetime allows us to gain a deeper insight into the phenomena of Thomas rotation and Thomas precession.Comment: 20 pages, to appear in Int. J. Theo. Phy

Constructions of complex Hadamard matrices via tiling Abelian groups

Applications in quantum information theory and quantum tomography have raised current interest in complex Hadamard matrices. In this note we investigate the connection between tiling Abelian groups and constructions of complex Hadamard matrices. First, we recover a recent very general construction of complex Hadamard matrices due to Dita via a natural tiling construction. Then we find some necessary conditions for any given complex Hadamard matrix to be equivalent to a Dita-type matrix. Finally, using another tiling construction, due to Szabo, we arrive at new parametric families of complex Hadamard matrices of order 8, 12 and 16, and we use our necessary conditions to prove that these families do not arise with Dita's construction. These new families complement the recent catalogue of complex Hadamard matrices of small order.Comment: 15 page

On the relation of Thomas rotation and angular velocity of reference frames

In the extensive literature dealing with the relativistic phenomenon of Thomas rotation several methods have been developed for calculating the Thomas rotation angle of a gyroscope along a circular world line. One of the most appealing concepts, introduced in \cite{rindler}, is to consider a rotating reference frame co-moving with the gyroscope, and relate the precession of the gyroscope to the angular velocity of the reference frame. A recent paper \cite{herrera}, however, applies this principle to three different co-moving rotating reference frames and arrives at three different Thomas rotation angles. The reason for this apparent paradox is that the principle of \cite{rindler} is used for a situation to which it does not apply. In this paper we rigorously examine the theoretical background and limitations of applicability of the principle of \cite{rindler}. Along the way we also establish some general properties of {\it rotating reference frames}, which may be of independent interest.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure

Surprising applications and possible extensions of Dellsarte's method

Paper presented at Strathmore International Math Research Conference on July 23 - 27, 2012This is a short informal survey on some surprising applications of Delsarte's method, written for anyone being interested. I try to keep it as short and as informative as possibleThis is a short informal survey on some surprising applications of Delsarte's method, written for anyone being interested. I try to keep it as short and as informative as possibl