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Assignment 1: January 27, 2020

1. Show that the Schrodinger equation is invariant under Galilean transformations. 2. Derive the general form of the Lorentz transformation matrix for boosts in the x, y, and z directions. 3. Show that the acceleration of an object transforms under Lorentz transformations, where a0 is the proper acceleration and v is the velocity. 4. Perform various tensor operations involving rank 1 and rank 2 tensors. 5. Derive properties of tensors including scalars, vectors, and rank 2 tensors under various operations. 6. Show that the squared length of a test particle's 4-velocity is -1.

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Ankush Roy
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34 views

Assignment 1: January 27, 2020

1. Show that the Schrodinger equation is invariant under Galilean transformations. 2. Derive the general form of the Lorentz transformation matrix for boosts in the x, y, and z directions. 3. Show that the acceleration of an object transforms under Lorentz transformations, where a0 is the proper acceleration and v is the velocity. 4. Perform various tensor operations involving rank 1 and rank 2 tensors. 5. Derive properties of tensors including scalars, vectors, and rank 2 tensors under various operations. 6. Show that the squared length of a test particle's 4-velocity is -1.

Uploaded by

Ankush Roy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Assignment 1

January 27, 2020

1. Show that
∂ψ h̄2 2
ih̄=− ∇ ψ
∂t 2m
is invariant under Galilean transformation.
2. Show the most general form of Lorentz transformation matrix for boost
in x, y and z direction.
3. Show that acceleration
(1 − vx2 /c2 )3/2 0
a= a
(1 + vx u0 /c2 )2
∆u0
under Lorentz transformation, where a0 = ∆t0

4. If Aµ is a rank 1 tensor and B µν show that


(a) ηµν Aµ B να is a rank 1 tensor
(b) ηµα ηνβ Aµ Aν B αβ is a scalar
(c) ∂ µ = η µν ∂ν is a rank 1 tensor
5. Show
(a) Tab T ab ,T ab Va Vb are scalars
(b) T ab Vb is a contra-variant vector
(c) Tab V b is a covariant vector
ab ce
(d) Tcd Taf is a (2,2) tensor
6. Show that the squared length of a test particle’s 4-velocity uµ is -1.
7. A particle of rest mass m and 4-momentum p̄ is examined by an observer
with 4-velocity ū. Show that
(a) the energy he measures E = −p̄.ū
(b) the rest mass he attributes to the particle is m2 = −p̄2
(c) the momentum he measures has magnitude |p̄| = [(p̄.ū)2 + (p̄.p̄)]1/2

1
(d) the ordinary velocity ~v he measures has magnitude

|p̄|
|~v | =
E

(e) the 4-vector v̄ in the observer’s Lorentz frame are

v0 = 0 v j = (dxj /dt)f or particle = ordinary velocity

is given by
p̄ + (p̄.ū)ū
v̄ =
−p̄.ū
8. (a) Prove that any time like vector Ū for which U 0 > 0 and Ū .Ū = −1
is the four-velocity of some world line.
(b) Use this to prove that for any timelike vector V̄ there is a lorentz
frame in which V̄ has zero spatial components.

9. Prove that conservation of four-momentum forbids a reaction in which


an electron and positron annhilate and produce a single photon (γ-ray).
Prove that the production of two photons is not forbidden.
10. Let a particle of charge e and rest mass m, initially at rest in the lab-
oratory, scatter a photon of initial frequency νi . Suppose the scattered
photon comes off at an angle θ from the incident direction. Use conserva-
tion of four-momentum to deduce that the photon’s final frequency νf is
given by
1 1  1 − cos θ 
= +h
νf νi m

11. Let S be the two-dimensional plane x = 0 in three-dimensional Euclidean


space. Let ñ 6= 0 be a normal one-form to S.

(a) Show that if V~ is a vector which is not tangent to S, then ñ(V


~ ) 6= 0
(b) Show that if ñ(V~ ) > 0, then ñ(W~ ) > 0 for any W~ , which points
~ ~
toward the same side of S as V does (i.e any W that has the same
sign as V x )
(c) Show that any normal to S is a multiple of ñ.
(d) Generalize these statements to any arbitrary three-dimensional sur-
face in four-dimensional space time.
~ and the tensor P̄ whose components
12. Consider a timelike unit four-vector U
are given by
Pµν = ηµν + Uµ Uν

2
(a) Show that P̄ is a projection operator that projects an arbitrary vector
~ into one orthogonal to U
V ~ . That is, show that the vector V~⊥ whose
components are

V⊥α = Pβα V β = (ηβα + U α Uβ )V β

is
~ and
i. orthogonal to U
ii. unaffected by P̄ :
α
V⊥⊥ := Pβα V⊥β = V⊥α
(b) Show that for an arbitrary non-null vector ~q, the tensor that projects
orthogonally to it has components
qµ qν
ηµν −
q α qα
How does this fails for null vectors? How does this relate to the
definition of P̄ ?
(c) Show that P̄ defined above is the metric tensor for vectors perpen-
~:
dicular to U
~⊥ , W
P̄ (V ~ ⊥ ) = ḡ(V
~⊥ , W
~ ⊥) = V
~ ⊥ .W
~⊥

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