I started on my own learning about GR and SR two months ago, and I still do not have clear if it is possible or not. The following example was explained to me by someone who affirmed: "SR applies only on inertial reference frames":
Let's imagine we have two different reference frames : A' and A. Reference frame (RF) A' is moving with constant velocity (v), meanwhile RF A has no velocity (A' moves relative to A with constant v).
RF A' has a wire underneath and RF A has an aerial above. When both interact, clocks start running in both RFs (clock A' and clock A) and a light ray emerges (from the wire-aerial interaction and with the same velocity vector direction RF A' has).
Then we agree distance can be determined from both RFs.
i.e. : x = x' + vt'
Then I asked myself: why would not be correct consider the case where A' is an accelerated RF and distance is determined from RF A (i.e.) as x = x' + at'?
My doubts about if "SR applies only on inertial reference frames" sentence was true increased when I checked out more sources and they affirmed accelerated reference frames were possible in SR.
Best Answer
The claim that a certain physical theory "applies only in inertial reference frames" is not even logically possible. "Physical theories" describe physical quantities, which by definition are independent of one's reference frame or choice of coordinates. At most, one could claim that "many of the equations found in standard textbooks on SR only apply to inertial references frames," which is indeed the case.