Module II: Relativity and Electrodynamics

Lecture 1: From electrodynamics to Special Relativity

Amol Dighe
TIFR, Mumbai
Outline

Faraday’s law and Lorentz force

Motivations for Special Relativity

Lorentz transformations
Coming up...

Faraday’s law and Lorentz force

Motivations for Special Relativity

Lorentz transformations
Faraday’s law of induced emf

Maxwell’s equations without external sources

~ =0
∇·E ~ = −∂ B/∂t
∇×E ~
~ =0
∇·B ~ = µ0 0 ∂ E/∂t
∇×B ~ (1)

Faraday’s law
I
~ = −∂ B/∂t
∇×E ~ ⇒ ~ · d` = −∂Φ/∂t
E (2)

I The total emf induced in a closed loop is equal to the rate of

change of magnetic flux through the loop.
I Is this valid in all situations ?
Wire loop cutting through magnetic field lines

I In the first case, the magnetic flux through the loop clearly
changes, so emf is induced in the wire loop, and current flows.
I In the second case, the wire cuts through the magnetic lines of
force, but the total magnetic flux through the loop never
changes. But current still flows ! (momentarily, when the loop
starts moving, till the charge buildup cancels the EMF)
I In the third case, both the source of magnetic flux and the wire
loop move together. The flux lines are not cut by the wire. But
current still flows ! (and now, continues to flow)
I Maxwell’s equations must be incomplete then...
Lorentz force
~ and B
Force on charge q in the presence of E ~

~F = q(E
~ + ~v × B)
~ (3)

I This is an experimental result.

I It may be interpreted as an effective electric field:

~0 = E
E ~ + ~v × B
~ . (4)

I This relation is not contained in the Maxwell’s equations

(at this stage)
I The combination of two relations
~ = −∂ B/∂t
∇×E ~ , and ~0 = E
E ~ + ~v × B
~ (5)

is sufficient to take care of all situations. (See Feynman lectures

for a detailed discussion).
Faraday Disc: a problem

I Bar magnet along the axis of the conducting

disc
I Conducting loop as shown in the figure

Does the current flow through the loop when:

I The magnet is stationary and the disc is spinning ?
I The disc is stationary and the magnet is spinning about its axis ?
I Both the disc and the magnet are spinning with the same
angular speed ?
Coming up...

Faraday’s law and Lorentz force

Motivations for Special Relativity

Lorentz transformations
Motivations from electrodynamics

I The Lorentz force law seems to be valid whether the conductor

is moving in a magnetic field, or a magnet is moving near a
conductor, only the relative speeds count.
I However with Galilean transformations x 0 = x − vt and t 0 = t,
the wave equation for a scalar potential Φ(x, t),
 2
1 ∂2

∂
− Φ(x, t) = 0
dx 2 c 2 dt 2

does not stay invariant. So an EM wave in one frame is not an

EM wave in another frame ?
I ~ is
Indeed, the wave equation in vacuum for E

~ + µ0 0 (∂ 2 E/∂t
∇2 E ~ 2
)=0,
√
leads to a wave travelling with speed c = 1/ µ0 0 , which does
not depend on the speed of the medium.
Motivations from measurements of the speed of light
Michaelson-Morley experiment (1887):

I Speed of light is independent of the speed of the medium

through which light is travelling. (Simulation applet at
http://galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu/more_stuff/
flashlets/mmexpt6.htm )
I Maxwell’s equations also have been telling us the same thing !
An historical perspective
I After the Michaelson-Morley experiment, FitzGerald wrote a
terse paper in
[The Ether and the earth’s atmosphere, Science 13: 390 (1889)],
postulating that lengths may be contracted along the direction of
movement through ether.
I In 1892, Lorentz wrote a more quantitative paper
[In Dutch: De relatieve beweging van de aarde en den aether,
Amsterdam, Zittingsverlag Akad. v. Wet., 1, p. 74 (1892)],
in which he calculated that contraction by the factor
1 − v 2 /(2c 2 ), would explain the MM experiment. This is the
“Lorentz FitzGerald contraction”.
I Einstein’s celebrated paper ["Zur Elektrodynamik
bewegter Körper", Annalen der Physik 322 (10), 1905], used the
consistency of Maxwell’s equations as his main motivation to
come up with the revolutionary concept that space and time are
unified. [Saha’s translation: The Principle of Relativity: Original
Papers by A. Einstein and H. Minkowski, University of Calcutta,
1920, pp. 1-34]
Coming up...

Faraday’s law and Lorentz force

Motivations for Special Relativity

Lorentz transformations
Linear transformations of space and time
I A transformation of coordinates (x, y , z, ct) → (x 0 , y 0 , z 0 , ct 0 )
should be linear, since it should not depend on where the origin
of the coordinate system is. From another point of view, the
infinitesimal transformation
(dx, dy , dz, c dt) → (dx 0 , dy 0 , dz 0 , c dt 0 ) has to be linear since the
quadratic terms will vanish in the infinitesimal limit.
I For relative velocity ~v along x direction, one does not expect y
and z to change, thus y 0 = y and z 0 = z. For the other
coordinates, one takes the most general transformation to be
x 0 = ax + bct , ct 0 = px + qct . (6)

I Let a beam of light starting at (x, y , z) = (0, 0, 0) at t = 0 reach

(x, y , z) at t. Then (ct)2 − x 2 − y 2 − z 2 = 0. In the primed frame,
this light has started at the origin at t 0 = 0, and has reached
(x 0 , y 0 , z 0 ) at t 0 . Then (ct 0 )2 − x 02 − y 02 − z 02 = 0. Combining
these two gives
(p2 − a2 + 1)x 2 + (q 2 − b2 − 1)c 2 t 2 − 2(pq − ab)c t x = 0 . (7)
Deriving Lorentz transformations
I Since the above expression has to be valid for alll x and t, all the
three terms in Eq. 7 have to vanish individually. This allows us to
substitute

p = sinh ζ1 , a = cosh ζ1 ,
q = cosh ζ2 , b = sinh ζ2 ,

to take care of the first two terms. The third term then yields
sinh(ζ1 − ζ2 ) = 0, i.e. ζ1 = ζ2 = ζ. Thus,

p = b = sinh ζ , q = a = cosh ζ .

I The coordinates then transform as

 0   
ct cosh ζ sinh ζ 0 0 ct
 x 0   sinh ζ cosh ζ 0 0 x 
 0 = 
y   0
  . (8)
0 1 0  y 
z0 0 0 0 1 z
Lorentz transformations in terms of β and γ

I Let S’ be a frame moving with a speed v along x-axis, relative to

an inertial frame S. The motion of the origin of S, as seen in S’,
is x 0 = −vt 0 .
I The transformations obtained earlier yield the coordinates of the
origin of S, as seen in S’, to be x 0 = sinh ζ ct, and ct 0 = cosh ζ ct.
I Thus, tanh ζ = −v /c = −β. This gives

1 β
cosh ζ = p =γ, sinh ζ = − p = −γβ . (9)
1 − β2 1 − β2

I The net Lorentz transformations then are

 0   
ct γ −γβ 0 0 ct
 x 0  −γβ γ 0 0x 
 0 = 
y   0
  . (10)
0 1 0  y 
z0 0 0 0 1 z
Some remarks on Lorentz transformations
I The inverse Lorentz transformations are
     0
ct γ γβ 0 0 ct
 x  γβ γ 0 0  x 0 
 =   . (11)
y   0 0 1 0  y 0 
z 0 0 0 1 z0

Clearly, these are obtained simply by changing the sign of v or β.

I We have only talked about Lorentz transformations with “boosts”
along x direction. However using the isotropy of space within
each reference frame, we can always rotate the frames such that
the relative motion between them is along the x axis. Formally
speaking,
   
1 0 0 0 γ γβ 0 0 1 0 0 0
0  γβ γ 0 0 0 
Λ=    (12)
0 R1  0 0 1 0 0 R2 
0 0 0 0 1 0

where R1 and R2 are 3 × 3 rotation matrices.

Take-home message from this lecture

I Even without the actual measurement of the speed of light, the

invariance of Maxwell’s equations indicates that the speed of
light should be independent of the motion of the medium.
I Given the speed of light is the same in all frames, there is a
unique set of linear transformations that achieves this, which are
Lorentz transformations.