Newton's Second Law and the Concept of Relativistic Mass

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel tensor-based interpretation of relativistic mass within Newton's second law framework, enabling a more comprehensive description of anisotropic inertial properties in relativistic dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a tensor form of relativistic mass, offering a new perspective on inertial properties in relativistic physics compared to traditional scalar mass concepts.

Findings

Mass is represented as a tensor, not a scalar.

The tensor approach captures anisotropic inertial features.

The method simplifies the description of relativistic motion.

Abstract

In this work we discuss different interpretations of mass in the relativistic dynamics. A new way to introduce mass is proposed. Our way is based on the relativistic equation of motion expressed in the form of the Newton$'$s second law. In this approach mass appears as a tensor, not as a scalar. The tensor mass allows us simply to describe anisotropic character of inert features of a relativistic object.