MIT Course 8.

033, Fall 2005, Relativistic dynamics

Max Tegmark

Last revised October 25 2005

Topics
• Formula summary
• Momentum & energy
• Acceleration & force (optional)

• Transformation of force (optional)

• Transformation of acceleration (optional)
Dynamics toolbox: formula summary
• Mass-energy unification:

E = mc2 = m0 γc2

• Momentum 4-vector:
⎛ ⎞
px
⎜ py ⎟
P ≡ m0 U = ⎜
⎝ pz ⎠
⎟

E/c

• Energy formula: �
E= (m0 c2 )2 + (cp)2

• Velocity formula:
cp
β=
E
• Optional material:
– Acceleration 4-vector:
� � � �
dU a u·a u
A≡ = γu2 + γu4
dτ 0 c2 c

– Force 4-vector:
� �
d F
F≡ P = γu = m0 A
dτ P/c

– Power:
P = Ė = u · F = m0 γu3 u · a
– Force 3-vector:
�
F u·a γu2 a (u & a parallel)
= a + γu2 2 u =
m 0 γu c a (u & a perpendicular)

– Acceleration 3-vector:
Pu
ma = F −
c2
– Force transformation:
Fx − cv2 P
Fx� = ,
1 − ucx2v
F
Fy� = � y ux v � ,
γ 1 − c2
F
Fz� = � z ux v � ,
γ 1 − c2
P − vFx
P� =
1 − ucx2v
Momentum & energy toolbox:
• Relativistic mass:
m = γm0

• Mass-energy unification:

E = mc2

• Momentum 4-vector (momentum-energy unification):

⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞
ux ux px
dX ⎜ uy ⎟ ⎜ ⎟ ⎜ py ⎟
P ≡ m 0 U = m0 = m 0 γu ⎜ ⎟ = m ⎜ uy ⎟ = ⎜ ⎟,
dτ ⎝ uz ⎠ ⎝ uz ⎠ ⎝ pz ⎠
c c E/c

(Use upper case X, U and P for the 4-vectors to avoid confusion

with the x, u and p 3-vectors.)
• Handy velocity formula follows straight from this:
cp
β=
E

• Rest energy:
E0 = m0 c
2
is total energy of particle in the frame where it is at rest

• Kinetic enery:

� �
1 u4
K = E − E0 = mc − m0 c = m0 c (γ − 1) = m0 u2 + O
2 2 2
2 c

• Rest mass invariant:

1� 1�
m0 = −Pt ηP = 2 E 2 − c2 p2 ,
c c
giving the handy relations

�
E = (m0 c2 )2 + (cp)2 ,

�
E 2

p ≡ |p| = − (m0 c)2 .

c2
• Low-speed limit |β| � 1:
1
E ≈ m0 c2 + m0 u2 ,
2
p = m0 γu ≈ m0 u.

• High-speed limit |β| ≈ 1 (γ � 1, E � E0 ):

E ≈ cp

This becomes exact (E = cp) for particles moving with speed of

light, like photons and gravitons.
• −Pt ηP = (E/c)2 −p2 is invariant also for system of particles, since
� �
� � �
� �
Ptot ≡ Pi = ΛPi = Λ Pi = ΛPtot .
i i i

• We derived p = m0 γu only for 1-dimensional collision. But any

collision is 1-dimensional in the frame where the total momentum
is zero!
Acceleration & force (optional!)
• The acceleration 4-vector A and the Force 4-vector F are less useful
than their 4-vector cousins X, U, P and K. We’ll use F mainly for
deriving the force transformation law, which will in turn give us
the transformation law for electromagnetic fields. We’ll use upper
case A for the acceleration 4-vector to avoid confusion with the the
acceleration 3-vector a, and the annoying symbol F for the force
4-vector to avoid confusion with the the force 3-vector F.
• Acceleration 4-vector:
⎛ ⎞
ux � �
dU dU d ⎜ uy ⎟ d u
A ≡ = γu = γu γu ⎝ ⎜ ⎟ = γu γu
dτ dt dt uz ⎠ dt c
c
� � � � � �
2 u̇ u a + γ̇u u
= γu + γu γ̇u = γu
0 c γ̇u c
� � � �
a u·a u
= γu2 + γu4 2 ,
0 c c
where in the last step, we have used the fact that
u·a
γ̇u = γu3 .
c2
• Force 4-vector:
d d d d
F≡ P = γu P = γu m0 U = m0 U,
dτ dt dt dτ
so by definition, we have

F = m0 A.

(Note that this does not apply the Newtonian result F = ma!)
• Interpretation of Force 4-vector:
� � � �
d ṗ F
F = γu P = γu = γu ,
dt Ė/c P/c

where F = ṗ is the familiar force 3-vector and P = Ė is the power,

the energy change per unit time (in Watts).
• Work-energy theorem:
dr
dE = F · dr = F · dt = F · udt,
dt
so the power satisfies

P = Ė = u · F.

• Force 3-vector explicitly: Dividing the above equation F = m0 A

by γu gives
F u·a
= a + γu2 2 u.
m 0 γu c
• Special case where u and a are parallel, e.g., for linear motion:

F u2 a � �
= a + γu2 2 = 1 + γu2 β 2 a = γu2 a.
m0 γu c

• Special case where u and a are perpendicular, eg, for circular mo­
tion:
F
=a
m 0 γu
• Note that in relativity, F and a are generally not parallel, but that
they are parallel for these two special cases.

• Acceleration 3-vector explicitly:

F u·F F P
a= − u= − u.
m0 γu m0 γu c2 m mc2

The last term (the departure from F = ma) is seen to have the form
of a friction term proportional to the power put into the particle.
Derivation: the three steps below.

d m0 γu c2 d E Ė u·F P
γ̇u = = = = = .
dt m0 c2 dt m0 c2 m0 c2 m0 c2 m0 c2

Combining this with the other expression for γ̇u above gives

u·F
u·a= .
γu3 m0

The above equation for F now becomes

F P u · a

=a+ u = a + γu2 2 u.
m0 γu m0 γu c2 c
Transformation of force
• Let’s compute the transformation law for force by transforming to
a frame S � moving with velocity v in the x-direction relative to S:
⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞⎛ ⎞
Fx� γ 0 0 −γβ Fx
⎜ Fy� ⎟ ⎜ 0 1 0 0 ⎟ ⎜ Fy ⎟
F = γu� ⎜
� ⎟
⎝ Fz� ⎠ = ΛF = γu ⎝ 0
⎜ ⎟⎜ ⎟
0 1 0 ⎠ ⎝ Fz ⎠
P � /c −γβ 0 0 γ P/c
⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞
γ[Fx − βP/c] γ[Fx − βP/c]
⎜ F ⎟ γ u � ⎜ Fy ⎟
= γu ⎜ ⎝
y ⎟=
⎠ u v
⎜
⎝
⎟.
⎠
Fz γ(1 − c2 ) x Fz
γ[P/c − βFx ] γ[P/c − βFx ]

In the last step, we used the relation γu� = γu γ[1 − ux v/c2 ] which
we proved earlier when transforming the velocity 4-vector U — it
followed from the fact that its normalization is Lorentz invariant,
i.e., U�t ηU� = Ut ηU.
• The 4 components now give our desired force transformation equa­
tions:
Fx − cv2 P
Fx� = ,
1 − ucx2v
F
Fy� = � y ux v � ,
γ 1 − c2
F
Fz� = � zu v � ,
γ 1 − cx2
P − vFx
P� = ,
1 − ucx2v

where P = u · F as usual.

• If we take S to be the rest frame of the particle, then u = 0,

P = u · F = 0 and this simplifies to Fx� = Fx , Fy� = Fy /γ, Fz� =
Fz /γ, so in the frame S � where the particle is moving, the force
is unaffected in the parallel direction and suppressed by γ in the
transverse directions.
Transformation of acceleration
• We could derive expressions using an approach like for force, but
the results are so messy that it’s not particularly useful — it’s
better to deal with explicit problems as needed.
• Here’s a useful special case that you get to derive on a problem set
(probably PS7): For an arbitrary acceleration a in S, the acceler­
ation a� in S � is related to a via
a�x
ax =
γ 3 (1 + vu�x /c2 )3
a�y
ay = ,
γ 2 (1 + vu�x /c2 )2

with the important caveat that the expression for ay is only valid
for the case where either u�y = 0 or a�x = 0.