The Lorentz Group, a Galilean Approach

Abstract

We present a pedagogical approach to the Lorentz group. We start by introducing a compact notation to express the elements of the fundamental representation of the rotations group.Lorentz coordinate transformations are derived in a novel and compact form. We show how to make a Lorentz transformation on the electromagnetic fields as well. A covariant time-derivative is introduced in order to deal with non-inertial systems. Examples of the usefulness of these results such as the rotating system and the Thomas precession, are also presented