# Kaon in an accelerator, Lorentz transformation problem

1. Oct 28, 2012

### Bowenwww

1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data
Ok so a Kaon (m = 500MeV) is accelerated from rest along the z-axis to a final energy of 5GeV, I need to find two factors of a lorrentz transformation β and γ and write a four vector for this.

2. Relevant equations
β=p/E γ=E/m

3. The attempt at a solution
I have calculated this using the above equations but I don't know if I've gone about it the right way.

I have β≈1 and γ=10 - can anyone tell me if this is anything like what it should be??

Thanks,

K xoxo

2. Oct 28, 2012

### vela

Staff Emeritus
Your result for $\gamma$ is right, but you could be a bit more precise about what $\beta$ equals.

3. Oct 28, 2012

### Bowenwww

Yeah it's actually 0.995 or something like that, it's just it seems from the nature of the question that it would require more work than that - I also don't understand where these components fit into a 4-vector?

Thanks for this,

K xx

4. Oct 28, 2012

### vela

Staff Emeritus
The energy-momentum four-vector is simply $p^\mu = (E, p_x, p_y, p_z)$, where E is the total energy and the pi's are the particle's three-momentum.