Paper 3, Section II, A

Electromagnetism | Part IB, 2019

The electric and magnetic fields E,B\mathbf{E}, \mathbf{B} in an inertial frame S\mathcal{S} are related to the fields E,B\mathbf{E}^{\prime}, \mathbf{B}^{\prime} in a frame S\mathcal{S}^{\prime} by a Lorentz transformation. Given that S\mathcal{S}^{\prime} moves in the xx-direction with speed vv relative to S\mathcal{S}, and that

Ey=γ(EyvBz),Bz=γ(Bz(v/c2)Ey),E_{y}^{\prime}=\gamma\left(E_{y}-v B_{z}\right), \quad B_{z}^{\prime}=\gamma\left(B_{z}-\left(v / c^{2}\right) E_{y}\right),

write down equations relating the remaining field components and define γ\gamma. Use your answers to show directly that EB=EB\mathbf{E}^{\prime} \cdot \mathbf{B}^{\prime}=\mathbf{E} \cdot \mathbf{B}.

Give an expression for an additional, independent, Lorentz-invariant function of the fields, and check that it is invariant for the special case when Ey=EE_{y}=E and By=BB_{y}=B are the only non-zero components in the frame S\mathcal{S}.

Now suppose in addition that cB=λEc B=\lambda E with λ\lambda a non-zero constant. Show that the angle θ\theta between the electric and magnetic fields in S\mathcal{S}^{\prime} is given by

cosθ=f(β)=λ(1β2){(1+λ2β2)(λ2+β2)}1/2\cos \theta=f(\beta)=\frac{\lambda\left(1-\beta^{2}\right)}{\left\{\left(1+\lambda^{2} \beta^{2}\right)\left(\lambda^{2}+\beta^{2}\right)\right\}^{1 / 2}}

where β=v/c\beta=v / c. By considering the behaviour of f(β)f(\beta) as β\beta approaches its limiting values, show that the relative velocity of the frames can be chosen so that the angle takes any value in one of the ranges 0θ<π/20 \leqslant \theta<\pi / 2 or π/2<θπ\pi / 2<\theta \leqslant \pi, depending on the sign of λ\lambda.

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