Somboon Rhianphumikarakit. Quaternions and the problem of Thomas precession . Master's Degree(Physics). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2004.
Abstract:
The main purpose of this thesis is to study an application of the mathematical
system of quaternions in physics. It has been shown that the quaternions can provide a
suitable tool for describing the kinematics of rotation in both 3-dimensional space and
4-dimensional space-time. In the special theory of relativity, these correspond to the
spatial rotation and the pure Lorentz transformation, respectively.
In this thesis, the quaternions have been used to express the angular frequency
of precession of the local rest frame in the problem of Thomas precession. Another
related and well known mathematical system, the geometric algebra of space, or Pauli
algebra, has also been studied. It was found that the set of all quaternions is naturally
isomorphic to this algebra.