1.I.4C

Special Relativity | Part IB, 2008

In an inertial frame SS a photon of energy EE is observed to travel at an angle θ\theta relative to the xx-axis. The inertial frame SS^{\prime} moves relative to SS at velocity vv in the xx direction and the xx^{\prime}-axis of SS^{\prime} is taken parallel to the xx-axis of SS. Observed in SS^{\prime}, the photon has energy EE^{\prime} and travels at an angle θ\theta^{\prime} relative to the xx^{\prime}-axis. Show that

E=E(1βcosθ)1β2,cosθ=cosθβ1βcosθ,E^{\prime}=\frac{E(1-\beta \cos \theta)}{\sqrt{1-\beta^{2}}}, \quad \cos \theta^{\prime}=\frac{\cos \theta-\beta}{1-\beta \cos \theta},

where β=v/c\beta=v / c.

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