- #1
Rudipoo
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Firstly, apologies for the notation.
The 4-momentum of a massive particle (rest mass m) is defined by
p=mu
where u is the 4-velocity. Thus in a frame S in which a particle has 3-velocity u the components of p are
[p]=gamma*(mc,mu)
How can we then identify the zeroth component of this with the energy/c and the spatial component as the 3-momentum measured in S? In my lecture notes it just makes this assertion and I don't know where that comes from.
Thanks
The 4-momentum of a massive particle (rest mass m) is defined by
p=mu
where u is the 4-velocity. Thus in a frame S in which a particle has 3-velocity u the components of p are
[p]=gamma*(mc,mu)
How can we then identify the zeroth component of this with the energy/c and the spatial component as the 3-momentum measured in S? In my lecture notes it just makes this assertion and I don't know where that comes from.
Thanks