(Assumptions Leading To This?) : Summary of Last Lecture

Summary of last lecture:
(Assumptions leading to this?)
MIT Course 8.033, Fall 2006, Lecture 5
Max Tegmark
Today: Relativistic Kinematics
Time dilation
Length contraction
Relativity of simultaneity
Proper time, rest length
Key people: Einstein
IS IT RIGHT?
Implications: time dilation

In the frame S, a clock is at rest at the origin ticking at time
intervals that are At =I seconds long, so the two consecutive ticks
at t = 0 and t = At have coordinates
In the frame S', the coordinates are
So in S', the clock appears to tick at intervals At'

i.e., slower! (Draw Minkowski diagram.)
yAt
> At,
Time dilation, cont 'd

The light clock movie says it all:
h t t p : //~ww.anu.edu.au/Ph~sics/~t/
Time dilation, cont 'd

The light clock movie says it all:
h t t p : //~ww.anu.edu.au/Ph~sics/~t/
Cosmic ray muon puzzle
-
Created about l0km above ground
Half life 1.56 x
In this time, light travels 0.47 km
So how can they reach the ground?
FZ
0 . 9 9 ~gives y FZ 7
FZ
0.9999~gives y
Leads to twin paradox
second
FZ
71
Consider two frames in relative motion. For t

transformation gives x' = yx,where y > 1.
0, the Lorentz
Question: How long does a yard stick at rest in the unprimed frame
look in the primed frame'!
1. Longer than one yard

2. Shorter than one yard
3. One yard
Lets measure the

length of our
moving eraser!
Implications: relativity of simultaneity

Consider two events simultaneous in frame S:
In the frame S', they are
So in S', the second event happened first!

So S-clocks appear unsynchronized in S'
further ahead
those with larger x run
Transformation toolbox: the inverse Lorent z

transform
Since x'
A(v)x and x
A(-v)x', we get the consistency re-
for any event x, so we must have A(-v)

inverse of A (v) .
i. e., yes!
A(v)-l, the matrix
Implications: length contraction

Trickier than time dilation, opposite result (interval appears shorter,
not longer)
In the frame S , a yardstick of length L is at rest along the x-axis
with its endpoints tracing out world lines with coordinates
In the frame S', these world lines are
rn
Let's work out the new world lines of the yard stick endpoints
rn
xi
rn X;
rn
+ pcti
yL
0, so left endpoint world line is
+ P(ctL + y p L ) = 0, so right endpoint world line is
Length in S' is
since both endpoints measured at same time

rn
Draw Minkowski diagram of this
(ti = t;)
An observer in S' measures length as rch

- not at the same time t.
Let's measure a t t'
ti
=0
when t
tz' = 0 when ct
at the same time t',
= 0.
-
at this time, xi
= PL -
at t h s time, xh
So in St-frame, measured length is L'
=yL= L/y,
y t l 2=
~ L/y
i.e., shorter
SIMPLER
WITH 2x2
MATRICES
Transformat ion toolbox:

perpendicular velocity addition
Here's an alternative derivation of velocity addition that easily
gives the non-parallel components too
If the frame S' has velocity v in the x-direction relative to S and

a particle has velocity u' = (u;, u&,u:) in S', then what is its
velocity u in S'?
Applying the inverse Lorent z transformation
to two nearby points on the particle's world line and subtracting
+vdt')
y(dxt
dy
ds
=
=
dy'
dt'
dt
y(dt' + v d x ' / c 2 ) .
Answer:
dx
-
dt
y (dx'
y(dt'
+ vdt')
+ "d,Z')
dx'
-dt'+ v
I + - -v
c2
dx'
dt'
u:
If
u' v
cz
3
:
Transformat ion toolbox:

boosts as generalized rotations
A "boost" is a Lorentz transformation with no rotation
A rotation around the z-axis by angle 8 is given by the transformation
cos 8
-sin8
sin8
cos8
0
0
0
0
We can think of a boost in the x-direction as a rotation by an

imaginary angle in the (x,ct)-plane:
where q
= tanh-'
/3 is called the rapidity.
Proof: use hyperbolic trig identities on next page

Implication: for multiple boosts in same direction, rapidities add
and hence the order doesn't matter
Hyperbolic trig reminders

cosh x
sinh x
tanh x
tanh -1 x
coshtanh
-1
sinh tanh
-1
x=
x
q'=w
A
The Lorent z invariant

The Minkowski metric
is left invariant by all Lorentz matrices A:
(indeed, t h s equation is often used to define the set of Lorent z matrices - for comparison, A'IA = I would define rotation matrices)
Proof: Show that works for boost along x-axis. Show that works
for rotation along y-axis or z-axis. General case is equivalent to
applying such transformations in succession.
All Lorentz transforms leave the quantity
xtrlx= x2
IJ2
+z2
(Cq2
invariant
Proof:
(More generally, the same calculation shows that xtq y is invariant)

So just as the usual Euclidean squared length lr 1 = r - r = rt r -rtlr of a 3-vector is rotaionally invariant, the generalized iilength?7
xtllx of a Cvector is Lorentz-invariant.
It can be positive or negative
For events x l and
x2,
their Lorentz-invariant separation is defined
as
A separation As2 = 0 is called null
A separation As2 > 0 is called
spacelike,
and
is called the p r o p e r d i s t a n c e (the distance measured in a frame

where the events are simultaneous)
A separation As2 < 0 is called
timelike,
and
is called the p r o p e r t i m e i n t e r n a l (the time interval measured in a

frame where the events are at the same place)
"Everything is relative"
--
or is it?
All observers agree on rest length

All observers agree on proper time
All observers (as we'll see later) agree on rest mass
Summary lecture:
Time dilation
Length contraction
Relativity of simultaneity
Problem solving tips

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Summary of last lecture:

(Assumptions leading to this?)

MIT Course 8.033, Fall 2006, Lecture 5

Today: Relativistic Kinematics

Implications: time dilation

In the frame S', the coordinates are

So in S', the clock appears to tick at intervals At'

Time dilation, cont 'd

Time dilation, cont 'd

Created about l0km above ground

Half life 1.56 x

In this time, light travels 0.47 km

So how can they reach the ground?

Leads to twin paradox

Consider two frames in relative motion. For t

1. Longer than one yard

Lets measure the

Implications: relativity of simultaneity

In the frame S', they are

So in S', the second event happened first!

those with larger x run

Transformation toolbox: the inverse Lorent z

A(-v)x', we get the consistency re-

for any event x, so we must have A(-v)

A(v)-l, the matrix

Implications: length contraction

In the frame S', these world lines are

0, so left endpoint world line is

+ P(ctL + y p L ) = 0, so right endpoint world line is

since both endpoints measured at same time

Draw Minkowski diagram of this

An observer in S' measures length as rch

at the same time t',

So in St-frame, measured length is L'

Transformat ion toolbox:

If the frame S' has velocity v in the x-direction relative to S and

to two nearby points on the particle's world line and subtracting

Transformat ion toolbox:

We can think of a boost in the x-direction as a rotation by an

/3 is called the rapidity.

Proof: use hyperbolic trig identities on next page

Hyperbolic trig reminders

The Lorent z invariant

is left invariant by all Lorentz matrices A:

All Lorentz transforms leave the quantity

(More generally, the same calculation shows that xtq y is invariant)

For events x l and

their Lorentz-invariant separation is defined

A separation As2 = 0 is called null

A separation As2 > 0 is called

is called the p r o p e r d i s t a n c e (the distance measured in a frame

A separation As2 < 0 is called

is called the p r o p e r t i m e i n t e r n a l (the time interval measured in a

All observers agree on rest length

Problem solving tips

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