Physics601Homework6DueFridayOctober15

1. Inclassstartingwiththeaction S =

d (m S ) weusedcovariancetoshowthat
d (( m + S ) u )
= S where
foraparticlemovinginaLorentzscalarfield

.
x

d( u )

= S ( S ) u u
a. Showthatthiscanberewrittenintheform
(m + S )
d
b. Showthatthisequationofmotionautomaticallysatisfiesthecondition
d ( u u )
= 0 .Thisindicatesthatimpositionofcovarianceyieldedaself
d

consistentresultthatrespectsthecondition u u = 1.
c. Showthatinthenonrelativisticlimitwhereallofthevelocitiesaremuch
lessthanthespeedoflightand S << m theLagrangianforthesystem

reducesto L = 12 mx 2 S plusanirrelevantconstantandtheequationof

motionreducesto mx = S .

2. Startfromtheaction S = d (m + V u ) where A isafourvectorfieldthat

dependsonspacetime.Showthattheequationofmotionis

d ( mu ) V V
= u .
d
x
x

3. Inelectromagnetism,onecanwritethescalarandvectorpotentialsinaformthat

Ax

lookslikea4vector: A = .Becauseonecanmakearbitrarygauge
Ay

Az

transformations A neednottransformasa4vector.

a. Showthatagaugetransformationcanbewrittenintheformoftheform

A A' = A + whereGisanarbitraryfunctionofspacetimewhich
x
neednottransformasa4scalarunderLorentztransformations.
b. Asufficientconditiontoshowthat A' transformsasa4vectoristoshow
A'

that = 0 with A 0 as x Explainbrieflywhy.

x

c. Showthatitisalwayspossibletomakeagaugetransformation(i.e.to

chooseG)toensurethat A' doestransformasa4vectorbypicking

choosingtosatisfythecondition A = G .ThisiscalledtheLorentz
gauge.
d. Showthatthefieldstrengthtensor F Av v A isgaugeinvariant.
Thatisshowthat F' A' v v A' = F foranytransformationoftheform

giveninparta.
e. Showthat F transformsunderLorentztransformationsasa4tensor:

F
v F whereisthematrixwhichspecifiestheLorentz
transformation.
f. Usingtheresultproblem1,plustheprecedingpartsofthisproblemshow

thattheequationofmotionforaparticleofmassmandchargeqmovingin

d(mu )
= qF u .
anelectromagneticfieldisgivenby
d

d(mu )
= qF u .Staringwiththis
4. Intheprecedingsectionyoushowedthat
d

d ( u u )
= 0 .Thisindicatesthatequation
equationofmotionshowthatofnecessity
d
ofmotionselfconsistentlyrespectsthecondition
u u = 1.

5. Supposethatonehasachargedparticlewithmassmandchargeqinteractingwith

externalelectromagneticfieldsspecifiedbythepotentials
= 0, Ax = E 0 t, Ay = Az = 0 .Notethatpotentialsareindependentofspecial
position.
a. VerifythatthesepotentialssatisfytheLorentzgaugecondition A = 0 .
b. Constructthefieldstrengthtensor F .
c. Supposethattheparticlestartsfromrestatt=0,findthepositionofthe
particleasafunctionoftime.(Hint,youmayfindyoursolutionofproblem

4.dofhomework5tobeuseful.)

6. InclasswefoundtheGreensfunctionfortheharmonicoscillator.Inthisproblem,
Iwantyoutofindandusetheanalogousoneforadampedoscillator.Thedamped
drivenoscillatorsatisfiedtheequation: mx + 2mx + m 02 x = f (t) whereisa
dampingparameter.Thesolutionis x(t) =

dt'G(t,t') f (t') wheretheGreens

functionsatisfies ( t2 + 2 t + 02 )G(t,t') = (t t') .Ausefulfirststepinconstructing

thisistoexploittheknownsolutionforsteadystatemotionwithaharmonic
2
2
drivingforce: ( t + 2 t + 0 )x(t) = f 0e i t hasasolutionoftheformoftheform

i( tt' )
f
e
e i( tt' )
2
2
0
x(t) =
(

+
2

)
= e i(tt' ) .Letusnow
.Thus
t
t
0
2
2
2
2
0 + 2i
0 + 2i
integratebothsideswithrespectto
anddivideby2:

d (t2 + 2t + 02 )
2

d e i (tt' )

e i (tt' )
02 2 + 2i

d e i (tt' )
2

.Weknowthat

= (t t') .Moreoveronthelefthandsidewecanpull
2
( t2 + 2 t + 02 ) outoftheintegralasitdoesnotdependon.Thus

e i (tt' )
d 2

0 2 + 2i
2
2
( t + 2 t + 0 )
= (t t') andtheobjectintheparenthesis
2

isaGreensfunction.
a. Evaluatetheintegralaboveusingcontourintegrationtofindanexplicit
expressionfor G(t,t') .Notethatthecomplexexponentialimpliesthatthe
planeinwhichthecontouristobecloseddependsonthesignoftt.
b. UsethisGreensfunctiontofindasolutionof mx + 2mx + m 02 x = f 0 et (t) .
c. Considertheresultinb.intheregimewhere>>>>.Inthatregimethe

systemshouldlooklikeanunderdampedoscillatorgettingadeltafunction
likeimpulseatt=0.Doesit?