Paper 4, Section II, C

Special Relativity | Part IB, 2009

A star moves with speed vv in the xx-direction in a reference frame SS. When viewed in its rest frame S′S^{\prime} it emits a photon of frequency ν′\nu^{\prime} which propagates along a line making an angle θ′\theta^{\prime} with the x′x^{\prime}-axis. Write down the components of the four-momentum of the photon in S′S^{\prime}. As seen in SS, the photon moves along a line that makes an angle θ\theta with the xx-axis and has frequency ν\nu. Using a Lorentz transformation, write down the relationship between the components of the four-momentum of the photon in S′S^{\prime} to those in SS and show that

cos⁡θ=cos⁡θ′+v/c1+vcos⁡θ′/c\cos \theta=\frac{\cos \theta^{\prime}+v / c}{1+v \cos \theta^{\prime} / c}

As viewed in S′S^{\prime}, the star emits two photons with frequency ν′\nu^{\prime} in opposite directions with θ′=π/2\theta^{\prime}=\pi / 2 and θ′=−π/2\theta^{\prime}=-\pi / 2, respectively. Show that an observer in SS records them as having a combined momentum pp directed along the xx-axis, where

p=Evc21−v2/c2p=\frac{E v}{c^{2} \sqrt{1-v^{2} / c^{2}}}

and where EE is the combined energy of the photons as seen in S′S^{\prime}. How is this momentum loss from the star consistent with its maintaining a constant speed as viewed in S?S ?

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