The propagation of light in a dielectric moving at relativistic velocities is investigated. The analysis shows that, in that case, the medium may support two original propagative modes, analogously to birefringence in crystal optics. The conditions at which the kinematic birefringence occurs and its main features are exhibited and compared with the usual birefringence. In particular, it is shown that this peculiar effect is of second order in relative velocity β = v=c, and the kinematic ordinary refractive index exhibits angular dependence contrary to what happens for the usual ordinary index. Moreover, the existence of negative values for the ordinary and extraordinary indices is manifested in the ultrarelativistic regime.
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机译：研究了光在以相对论速度运动的电介质中的传播。分析表明，在那种情况下，介质可以支持两种原始的传播模式，类似于晶体光学中的双折射。显示了运动双折射发生的条件及其主要特征，并将其与通常的双折射进行了比较。特别地，示出了在相对速度β＝ v ＝ c时该奇特效果是二阶的，并且运动常态折射率表现出与常态常折射率相反的角度依赖性。此外，在超相对论体系中，常态和非常性指数都存在负值。
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