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Jackson and Pargetter's Criterion of Distant Simultaneity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 April 2022
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Frank Jackson and Robert Pargetter (1977) propose a method for synchronizing clocks at rest at distant points of an inertial system in Euclidean space, which, they claim, (i) does not depend on Einstein's signalling method (Einstein 1923, pp. 27–29) and (ii) provides a basis for denying the conventionality of distant simultaneity. I am afraid, however, that the new method presupposes that the simultaneity of distant events relatively to the chosen inertial system has been already determined by Einstein's or some other method. Jackson and Pargetter describe their method as follows:
Let UA, UB be clocks at A, B, respectively. Let XY be an axis perpendicular to AB, passing through C, the midpoint of AB. Take a rigid straight rod A′B′ with midpoint C′ and length equal to the length AB. Move A′B′ with uniform velocity such that C′ travels along XY towards C, and A′B′ is perpendicular to XY (i.e. parallel to AB); then if the reading … on UA just when A′ coincides with A is the same as the reading … on UB just when B′ coincides with B, clocks UA and UB will be synchronous. (Jackson and Pargetter 1977, p. 468).
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- Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1979
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