Prof.

David Hilditch Relatividade

Prof. Tiago Fernandes Week 1 2022/2023

Problem 1: Estimates of β
a) Calculate the value of β = vc for the different scenarios, assuming that c = 3 × 108 m s−1 .
You may search the values of the speed v.

i) A car at maximum speed on the highway, in Portugal.

ii) The International Space Station orbiting the Earth.
iii) Halley comet speed at the perihelion in Feb. 9, 1986.
iv) The star S4714 orbiting Milky Way’s central black hole at the nearest point from the
black hole (i.e. at maximum speed).
v) A cosmic ray muon measured at Earth’s sea level (HINT:v = 29.8cm/ns).

b) In what scenarios do you expect relativistic effects to be important?

Problem 2: Invariance of the wave equation

Consider the wave equation for a generic function f (t, x)

∂2 1 ∂2
f (t, x) − f (t, x) = 0 , (1)
∂x2 c2 ∂t2
∂ ∂f
where ∂x is a partial derivative in x, i.e. ∂x
is a derivative of f with respect to x, assuming
that the other variables are constants.

a) Show that any function of the form f (t, x) = g(x ± ct) is a solution to this equation.
(HINT: ∂g(ϵ)
∂x
∂ϵ dg
= ∂x dϵ
)

b) Sketch the form of a solution of this type at a time t = 0 and at a later time. How do you
interpret what is happening?

c) Show that the wave equation is not invariant under Galilean transformations (i.e. going
to a frame with velocity V ).
(HINT: You can use that ∂g∂t
∂g
= ∂t ∂g ∂g ∂g
′ − V ∂x′ and ∂x = ∂x′ )

d) Show that for part c) you can find a new solution to the transformed equation by altering
the speed of propagation such that f (t′ , x′ ) = g (x′ ± (c ± V ) t).

e) What happens to the wave equation in the limit of c → ∞? Is it now invariant under
Galilean transformations (i.e. going to a frame with velocity V )?

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Prof. David Hilditch Relatividade
Prof. Tiago Fernandes Week 1 2022/2023

Problem 3: Motion under transformations

Consider an object with mass m under the influence of a potential U = U (|⃗r − ⃗rEarth |), where
⃗r is the position vector of the object and ⃗rEarth is the position vector of the center of the
Earth.

a) Show that the potential and the resulting force are invariant under Galilean transforma-
tions.

b) Consider now the motion of the object near the surface of the Earth. An observer A
sees the object being dropped at rest from an height h with respect to the ground. An
observer B is traveling in a car with positive speed V along the x-axis. Consider the usual
gravitational force at the surface of the Earth, i.e. F⃗ = −mg⃗ey , where ⃗ey is the positive
unit vector along the y-axis.

i) Do the observers agree that the object obeys the same equation of motion?
ii) What are the initial conditions of the motion in the frame of the observer B?

Suggestions for reading:

Kleppner’s book, sections 12.1, 12.2, 12.3.