Clocking mechanism from a minimal spinning particle model

Abstract

The clock hypothesis plays an important role in the theory of relativity. To test this hypothesis, a mechanical model of an ideal clock is needed. Such a model should have the phase of its intrinsic periodic motion increasing linearly with the affine parameter of the clock’s center of mass worldline. A class of relativistic rotators introduced by Staruszkiewicz in the context of an ideal clock is studied. A singularity in the inverse Legendre transform leading from the Hamiltonian to the Lagrangian leads to new possible Lagrangians characterized by fixed values of mass and spin. In free motion the rotators exhibit intrinsic motion with the speed of light and fixed frequency.