PH4508 Tutorials

PH4508 Introduction to general relativity

In PH4508, tutorials are partially incorporated into lectures. Many tutorial exercises/examples will be
discussed in lectures.

There will still be five separate tutorial lessons.

1 TUTORIAL 1: SPECIAL RELATIVITY

Q1. LORENTZ ANGLE TRANSFORMATION

A particle is moving in the 𝑥 -𝑦 plane of the 𝑆 -frame with speed 𝑣 at an angle θ with respect to the 𝑥 -
axis. Determine the angle θ between the particle's trajectory and the x-axis as measured in the S-frame in
standard configuration.

Q2. UNIFORM ACCELERATION

Consider a particle moving along the x-axis whose velocity as a function of time is
𝑑𝑥 𝑔𝑡
=
𝑑𝑡 1 + 𝑔 𝑡 /𝑐

where g is a constant and 𝑐 is the speed of light.

(a) Does the particle’s speed ever exceed the speed of light?

(b) Calculate the components of the particle’s four-velocity.

(c) Express 𝑥 and 𝑡 as a function of the proper time along the trajectory.

(d) What are the components of the four-force and the three-force acting on the particle?

Q3. PROPERTIES OF LORENTZ TRANSFORMATIONS

Recall that a Lorentz transformation 𝛬 𝜈 between inertial coordinate systems

𝜈
𝑥 =𝛬 𝜈𝑥

preserves the Minkowski metric (and its inverse)

𝜈′ 𝜇𝜈
𝜂 =𝛬 𝜇𝛬 𝜈𝜂

(a) Work out the first component of this equation and show that 𝛬 0 is never zero.

(b) Lorentz transformations with 𝛬 0 > 0 are called orthochronous. Show that if a time-like vector 𝑉 is
future-pointing namely 𝑉 > 0, in one inertial reference frame S, it is future-pointing in all inertial
reference frames that are related to S by orthochronous Lorentz transformations. [Hint: Use the Cauchy-
Schwartz inequality (𝑎 + 𝑏 + 𝑐 )(𝑥 + 𝑦 + 𝑧 ) ≥ (𝑎𝑥 + 𝑏𝑦 + 𝑐𝑧) .]

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PH4508 Tutorials

Q4. ELECTRIC CHARGE CONSERVATION

Express the charge conservation law + 𝛻 ⋅ 𝚥⃗ = 0 in terms of current density 4-vector. Derive the
equation you obtain from Maxwell equations.

Q5. DIVERGENCE OF A TENSOR IN MINKOWSKI SPACETIME

Show that the divergence 𝜕 𝐹 of a tensor 𝐹 of type (2, 0) is a four-vector in Minkowski spacetime.
You need to prove that the divergence has the correct transformation properties as a four-vector does
under Lorentz transformations.