Electricity and Magnetism II - Homework Assignment 9

Alejandro Gomez Espinosa

April 23, 2013
Jackson, 11.3 Show explicitly that two successive Lorentz transformations in the same direction are
equivalent to a single Lorentz transformation with a velocity
v =
v
1
+ v
2
1 + (v
1
v
2
/c
2
)
(1)
This is an alternative way to derive the parallel-velocity addition law.
Let us used the Lorentz transformations dened in (11.16):
x

0
=
1
(x
0

1
x
1
) (2)
x

1
=
1
(x
1

1
x
0
) (3)
where x
0
= ct, x
1
= z,
1
= v
1
/c and
1
= (1
2
1
)
1/2
. Similarly, we can dene for the successive
Lorentz transformation:
x

0
=
2
(x

2
x

1
) (4)
x

1
=
2
(x

2
x

0
) (5)
with
2
= v
2
/c and
2
= (1
2
2
)
1/2
. Then, plugging (2) and (3) into (4):
x

0
=
2
(
1
(x
0

1
x
1
)
2

1
(x
1

1
x
0
))
=
2

1
x
0

1
x
1

1
x
1
+
2

1
x
0
=
2

1
(x
0
(1 +
2

1
) x
1
(
1
+
2
))
where we can see that this expression is similar to (2) and (4) if we dene = (1
2
)
1/2
with
= v/c for a body travel at velocity v. Then:
=
2

1
(1 +
2

1
) and =
2

1
(
1
+
2
)
Let us work with the relation on the left:
=
2

1
(1 +
2

1
)
1
_
1
v
2
c
2
=
1
_
1
v
2
2
c
2
1
_
1
v
2
1
c
2
_
1 +
v
2
c
v
1
c
_
1
1
v
2
c
2
=
1
1
v
2
2
c
2
1
1
v
2
1
c
2
_
1 +
v
2
v
1
c
2
_
2
1
c
2
v
2
=
c
2
(c
2
v
2
2
)(c
2
v
2
1
)
_
1 +
v
2
v
1
c
2
_
2
c
2
v
2
=
(c
2
v
2
2
)(c
2
v
2
1
)
c
2
_
1 +
v
2
v
1
c
2
_
2

gomez@physics.rutgers.edu
1
v
2
= c
2

c
4
v
2
2
c
2
v
2
1
c
2
+ v
2
1
v
2
2
c
2
_
1 +
v
2
v
1
c
2
_
2
=
(c
2
+ v
1
v
2
)
2
c
4
+ v
2
2
c
2
+ v
2
1
c
2
v
2
1
v
2
2
c
2
_
1 +
v
2
v
1
c
2
_
2
=
c
4
+ 2v
1
v
2
c
2
+ v
2
1
v
2
2
c
4
+ v
2
2
c
2
+ v
2
1
c
2
v
2
1
v
2
2
c
2
_
1 +
v
2
v
1
c
2
_
2
=
c
2
(v
1
+ v
2
)
2
c
2
_
1 +
v
2
v
1
c
2
_
2
v =
v
1
+ v
2
1 +
v
2
v
1
c
2
Jackson, 11.6 Assume that a rocket ship leaves the earth in the year 2100. One of a set of twins born
in 2080 remains on earth; the other rides in the rocket. The rocket ship is so constructed that it
has an acceleration g in its own rest frame (this makes the occupants feel at home). It accelerates
in a straight-line path for 5 years (by its own clocks), decelerates at the same rate for 5 more years,
turns around, accelerates for 5 years, decelerates for 5 years, and lands on earth. The twin in the
rocket is 40 years old.
(a) What year is it on earth?
Since the rocket is moving in a straight-line, we can use the paralell velocity dened in Jackson
(11.31) as the velocity of the rocket in the Earth frame (u):
u =
u

+ v
1 +
u

v
c
2
(6)
where u

is the velocity of the rocket in its frame and v is the velocity of the of the inertial
frame of the rocket. Then, the acceleration can be written as:
a =
du
dt
=
d
dt
_
u

+ v
1 +
u

v
c
2
_
=
_
1 +
u

v
c
2
_
du

dt
(u

+ v)
v
c
2
du

dt
_
1 +
u

v
c
2
_
2
since
dv
dt
= 0
=
_
1
v
2
c
2
_
du

dt
_
1 +
u

v
c
2
_
2
=
_
1
v
2
c
2
_
du

dt
since u

= 0
=
1

2
du

dt

dt

dt
where =
_
1
v
2
c
2
_
1/2
=
1

2
du

dt

from (11.26)
=
1

3
du

dt

=
g

3
2
because the rocket is accelerating in its frame with g. Then, we can calculate the velocity in
the Earth frame using the time delation between the rocket moving in the rocket frame and
the Earth: dt = d. Hence,
a =
du
dt
=
du
d
=
g

3
_
u
0

2
du =
_

0
gd
_
u
0
du
1
u
2
c
2
= g
c tanh
1
u
c
= g
u = c tanh
_
g
c
_
Finally, to calculate the time for the rst acceleration:
t
1
=
_
5
0
d =
_
5
0
_
1
u
2
c
2
_
1/2
d
=
_
5
0
_
1
c
2
tanh
2
_
g
c
_
c
2
_
1/2
d
=
_
5
0
_
1 tanh
2
_
g
c
__
1/2
d
=
_
5
0
cosh
_
g
c
_
d
=
c
g
sinh
_
5g
c
_
=
3 10
8
m
2
s
1
9.8m
2
s
2
sinh
_
1.58 10
8
s(9.8m
2
s
2
)
3 10
8
m
2
s
1
_
86years
This time corresponds to the rst ve years of travel, if we multiply this value by four we found
that in the Earth frame has been passed approximately 344 years. Therefore, the current
year on Earth is 2444.
(b) How far away from the earth did the rocket ship travel?
In the case of the distance, because we know the relativistic velocity of the rocket and the time
in the Earth reference, we found:
d = 2
_
t

0
vdt
= 2
_
t

0
gt
_
1 +
g
2
t
2
c
2
dt
= 2
c
2
g
_
_

1 +
_
t

g
c
_
2
1
_
_
t

=1.5810
8
s
1.56 10
18
m
3