Relativistic Definition and 1000 Threads

I'm looking over some common physics equations as a review for the course I'll be taking next semester, and for each equation, I'm coming across two equations for each, a relativistic and a non relativistic. The class I'll be taking will be on mechanics, inertia, etc., so I figure I'll only...

Say we have a real field that satisfies: E^2 = P^2 + m^2 Assume spacetime is 4D. Assume the field is at rest and grab a single point of this field and slowly displace it a distance x. Just as an anchored string (string with an additional sideways restoring force) with fixed end points will...

Homework Statement Given that the trajectory in frame S is: x=\frac{c^2}{a}(\sqrt{1+\frac{a^2t^2}{c^2}}-1) Show that in S' that is moving in the +x direction at speed u: x'=\frac{c^2}{a}\sqrt{1+\frac{a^2(t'-A)^2}{c^2}}-B Find the constants A and B. Homework Equations Lorentz...

Reading the Landau's "The classical theory of fields" (chapter 2, section 9 ) I have some doubts in explaining the steps in derivig the formula for the variation of the action for the relativistic free particle...

This is a thought experiment that my friends and I (physics graduate students all) were pondering while we should have been doing Jackson homework. Consider a boat traveling at relativistic speeds. From the boat's frame, the water is contracted, and therefore is more dense. This would...

Hi! I have the following problem: Example: collision of 2 electrons For non-relativistic scattering it is easy to show that the speed of the CM frame with respect to the lab frame is equal to the speed of the electrons in the CM frame, expoloiting the fact that in the lab frame, one of the...

Given the lifetime of a muon as 2.197 microseconds, and the rest mass of 105.65MeV, and a total particle energy of 10GeV, I need to calculate how far, in the rest frame, the particle will travel before decay.Homework Equations Beta=v/c Gamma=1/sqrt(1-beta^2) deltaT'=gamma*deltaT...

A person is in a confined cubicle - say 1m x 1m x 1m. Assuming he is not accelerating, he should not be able to tell if he is moving with respect to any other non-acclerating coordinate system. Are there any limits on his relative speed?

I have a question regarding the conditions "prior" to the Big Bang. I realize tere is no empirical evidence for these conditions, only speculations. At the point of the Big Bang, all of matter and energy was "infinitely" densely concentrated at a single point, correct? Even though GR breaks...

Have there ever been any attempts to create a theory of gravity within the context of a flat 4-D Minkowski spacetime? Rather than taking the general relativistic route of gravity being a manifestation of curved spacetime geometry, has anyone historically ever attempted to put the more...

In what situations do Newton's law of universal gravity fail to predict correctly how matter moves? The examples I know of are frame dragging (around rotating BH), shifting of light paths, shifting orbits of planets. But does Newton's law really predict the magnitude of gravity accuratly? How...

Homework Statement at what speed does the expression for relativistic kinetic energy vary from the non-relativistic expression by 5%? Homework Equations Relativistic kinetic energy K=(gamma-1)mc^2 Non-relativistic kinetic energy K=0.5mv^2 The Attempt at a Solution I'm not...

I'm trying to solve a problem for a relativistic electron in an external magnetic field with vector potential \vec A using the Lagrangian \mathcal L = -mc^2 / \gamma - e \vec v \cdot \vec A in cylindrical coordinates. But isn't this DREADFULLY TERRIBLE, since when I try to compute...

I know that for normal Newtonian motion, we can write v=rω. Does this hold for relativistic motion as well? My gut tells me no, but I can't find (in my GR book or online) a comparable equation or discussion of relativistic rotation. It should be noted that while the case of relativistic motion...

In J.D. Jackson's Classical Electrodynamics, an argument is made in support of the assertion that the relativistic Lagrangian \mathcal L for a free particle has to be proportional to 1/\gamma. The argument goes something like this: \mathcal L must be independent of position and can therefore...

This is actually a problem in Goldstein. Homework Statement A rocket that ejects stuff at a speed a in its rest frame. Demonstrate that m\frac{d v}{dm} + a\left(1 - {v^2 \over c^2}\right) = 0 in which m is the invariant mass of the rocket and v is the velocity of the rocket viewed in Earth...

To a moderator: this is a theoretical, concept-based question. Say two balls of putty, moving relativistically near the speed of light, collide (although i understand this is not possible theoretically and realistically). They collide at a slight perpendicular displacement, instead of...

Homework Statement My question concerns what happens when one is transforming relativistic velocities in more than one dimension. The Lorentz velocity addition formula is well known. Suppose there is an inertial reference frame F' moving at speed v in the +x direction with respect to a...

Hello my name is Unto I currently study Physics (it's my first year) at the University of Bristol in England. I first came here with a really horrible relativistic kinematics problem, but I got no answers and managed to solve it myself. However you seem like nice guys, and it's always...

Hello everyone! I apologize if my first post is of a problem that may seem like a really silly one. But it was something we were stuck with today in Modern Physics class. It is NOT a homework assignment! We have proved that relativistic force, F = m*(du/dt)*(gamma)3 where gamma is the Lorentz...

Homework Statement Taking into account the electrons momentum and relativistic energy prove that W=(m(sub0)^2c^4+p^2c^2)^(1/2) Homework Equations p=(gamma)m(sub0)v; W=(gamma)m(sub0)c^2. The Attempt at a Solution I have tried expanding the relativistic factor...

This may be a basic question; I'm not sure because I'm just getting into quantum theory. As I understand it, the electron orbits somewhere around the order of n x 10^6 (based on calculations I've seen). Moreover, the wave model of the electron suggests that it moves at velocity c. From this...

OK, here is an interesting assertion I haven't seen before. Thought I would see what some of the folks here think. The paper is: Quantum Preferred Frame: Does It Really Exist? by J. Rembielinski, K. A. Smolinski (2009) Abstract: "The idea of the preferred frame as a remedy for...

Homework Statement A rho meson of rest mass 768 MeV/c^2 and total energy of 960 MeV decays into 2 pions, neutral and positive with rest masses 135 and 139.6 MeV/c^2 respectively. Show that the neutral pion has a speed of 0.93588c with respect to the centre of mass frame and that it's momentum...

Homework Statement The hamiltonian of a free relativistic particle moving along the x-axis is taken to be H=\sqrt{p^2c^2+m^2c^4} where p is the momentum operator. If the state of the wave function at time t=0 is described by the wave function \psi_0(x) what is the wave function at time t>0...

Hey folks I've been having trouble solving this assignment and I'm not sure whether my solutions is correct or in the right direction. The one question just need help doing the fraction rearranging to prove that the function is associative. 1. The Relativistic Law for adding velocities is v1...

[b] I'm in desperate need of some help. I am so lost on this: 1. imagine a rocket ship R moving eastward with speed v with respect to the Earth and a rocket ship S moving westward with speed −v with respect to the earth, we wish to know the speed of R with respect to S. a. Go to a reference...

Homework Statement A rocket is traveling at speed V along the x-axis of frame S. It emits a signal (for example, a pulse of light) that travels with speed c along the y prime axis of the rocket's rest frame S prime. What is the speed of the signal as measured in S? Homework Equations...

Homework Statement What sort of frequency shift does a rocket ship traveling along the x-axis as some speed close to c observe when it passes directly over a light source emitting photon on the y-axis (so when the angle between them is 90 degrees). At this angle, the rocket is neither...

If one was in a spaceship at rest in frame K and sees an evenly-distributed number of stars around them, what would the distribution of stars look like if you were traveling at relativistic speeds (frame K')? I'm conflicted because I've seen animations online that seem to illustrate the stars...

I've read contrasting sources concerning the concept of an object increasing in mass at relativistic velocities. Some of my older calculus texts mention this as being accepted by physicists, while a newer(by comparison) textbook called Principles of Physics: A Calculus-Based Text by Serway and...

Homework Statement An electron has a rest mass of 9.11 x 10^-31 kg. The speed of the electron in the cathode ray tube of your computer monitor is 4.00 x 10^7 m/s. However, the speed of the electron is 0.98 c in a particle accelerator used in cancer therapy. How many times heavier is the...

Homework Statement "Given F=dp/dt. If the force is parallel to velocity show that F=γ3ma." Homework Equations F=dp/dt and p=γmv The Attempt at a Solution Since the force is the first derivative of the momentum with respect to time, and γ and v both vary with time since there is a...

Homework Statement What is the speed of a proton after being accelerated to a kinetic energy of 750keV? Homework Equations E=K+E0 E0=mc^2 K=(gamma-1)mc^2 gamma=1/(sqroot(1-v^2/c^2)) The Attempt at a Solution Alright, so to find the speed, I used the equation: K=(gamma-1)mc^2...

Hello, I want to do a scattering calculation with two particles scattering to two (other) particles relativistically. Is it correct to use the following conservation laws? \vec{p}_1+\vec{p}_2=\vec{p}_3+\vec{p}_4 \gamma_1 m_1c^2+\gamma_2 m_2c^2=\gamma_3 m_3c^2+\gamma_4 m_4c^2 where the...

Homework Statement A particle of mass m(naught) moves throught the lab at .6c. Suddenly it explodes into two fragments. Fragment 1 has mass .66m(naught) and moves at .8c in the same direction as the original particle had been moving. Determine the velocity (magnitude and direction) and mass of...

Dear all, Since standard QM textbook Sakurai or Shankar only mention Non-relativistic path integral and QFT text deal with path integral for field theory, I want to ask whether there is a subject like "Path Intergral quantization for Relativistic point like Particles"? If so, is this subject...

The relativistic mass equation shows the relationship between relativistic mass and speed. Basically showing that the closer u get to light speed the less relativistic mass you have, but ur rest mass will be the same. I was asked by my friend what the inverse of that formula means. Thus I...

Homework Statement Energy of a particle may be of the form: E = \gamma mc^{2} E = \sqrt{p^{2}c^{2} + m^{2}c^{4}} Are both valid for every particle? matter and photon? Can they be equated?

Homework Statement Newton's Second Law is given by F=dp/dt. If the force is always parallel to the velocity, show that F=y3ma

Homework Statement 4205m above sea level, count 104 muons during time period, find classical and relativistic number of muons expected at sea level, why did they decide to count as many as 104 muons instead of only 103? Homework Equations N=No exp(-ln (2)t)/ t1/2

I did the problem, though I don't think that it is right. I think that the number is to big so I think I might have screwed up somewhere though I don't know where. Homework Statement What is the momentum (in units of MeV/c) of an electron with a kinetic energy of 1.00 MeV? Homework Equations...

Homework Statement The hydra cluster is 900 Mpc (3x10^9 light years) away. Calcium atoms emit a spectral line of wavelength 396.8 nm. This line is observed at 487.5 nm. The velocity of the cluster, v, is given by (\lambda =c/f) 487.5 = 396.8 SQRT((1+v/c)/(1-v/c)) How do i find v please...

Hi, Do you know if there is an explicit formula for the integrated 3 body relativistic phase space of 3 particle with the same mass? I.e. M->3m Or an approximate one? Thank you!

Hello all, I was wondering how you take the relativistic kinetic energy equation: Total Energy=(gamma)mc^2 and solve it for a certain velocity. In our homework we have to take a high amount of energy that is put on an object with mass initially at rest, and find out what velocity it will...

In another thread a discussion arose about the interpretation of derivatives. For example acceleration is the time derivative of velocity. Obviously, in the strictly mathematical sense: in relativistic physics and classical physics alike acceleration is the time derivative of velocity...

Homework Statement A particle of mass M decays into two identical particles each of mass m, where m = 0.3M. Prior to the decay, the particle of mass M has a total energy of 5Mc2 in the laboratory reference frame. The velocities of the decay product are along the direction of motion M. Find...

Hello, I plan on continuing to study physics, mathematics and Earth science. (independently) What are the mathematical pre-requisites for learning relativistic quantum field theory as smoothly as possible. On MIT's opencourseware, it indicates that a class on advanced ODEs is enough, but we...

Some time ago someone introduced me to the following scenario. Imagine you ship loads of oil rig pipes into space, and you assemble them to a length of many kilometers, and you start that long pipe spinning on its long axis. You add vibration damping, to get rid of any transverse, longitudinal...

Homework Statement In a certain reference frame, a particle with momentum of 7 MeV/c and a total energy of 9 MeV. Determine the mass of the particle. I did not mistype this problem, this is the way it appears on my assignment. Homework Equations Total Relativistic Energy...