1.I.4B

Special Relativity
Part IB, 2007

Write down the position four-vector. Suppose this represents the position of a particle with rest mass MM and velocity v. Show that the four momentum of the particle is

pa=(Mγc,Mγv)p_{a}=(M \gamma c, M \gamma \mathbf{v})

where γ=(1v2/c2)1/2\gamma=\left(1-|\mathbf{v}|^{2} / c^{2}\right)^{-1 / 2}.

For a particle of zero rest mass show that

pa=(p,p)p_{a}=(|\mathbf{p}|, \mathbf{p})

where p\mathbf{p} is the three momentum.