Homework of Week 4

Problem 1: The physicist and the traffic light: A physicist is arrested for going through a red light. In court he pleads that he approached the intersection at such a speed that the red light looked green to him. The judge, a graduate of a physics class, changes the charge to speeding and fines the defendant one dollar for every kilometer/hour he exceeded the local speed limit of 30 kilometers/hour. What is the fine? [Answer: 60 million dollars] (Adapted from Spacetime Physics by MIT and Princeton professors on p. 263) [Hint: Take the wavelength of green light to be 530 nm = 530 X 10-9 m and the wavelength of red light to be 650 nm.] Problem 2: Doppler shift at the limb of Sun [Example 1-12 on p. 43 of Tipler 5 ed. ]: The Sun rotates at the equator once in about 25.4 days. The Suns radius is 7.0 X 108 m. (a) What is the linear speed of the limbs? Compare this speed to the speed of light, what is the ratio? So this speed v << c or v ~ c? (b) Compute the Doppler effect that you would expect to observe at the left and right limbs (edges) of the Sun near the equator for light of wavelength = 550 nm (yellow light). Is this a redshift or a blueshit? Problem 3: Redshift and starlight: Relativistic Doppler Effect plays an important role in Astronomy. In 1929, E. P. Hubble became the first astronomer to suggest that the universe is expanding. He made that suggestion and offered a simple equation to describe the expansion on the basis of measurements of the Doppler effect of the frequencies of light emitted toward us by distant galaxies. Light from distant galaxies is always shifted toward frequencies lower than those emitted by similar sources nearby. Since c = f, so the shift corresponds to longer wavelengths. That is, redshif is used to describe the Doppler effect for a receding source. Similarly, blueshift describes light emitted by stars, typically stars in our galaxy, that are approaching us. Astronomers define the redshift of light from astronomical sources as a z-score:

(f0 f) , f

where f0 = frequency measured in the frame of star or galaxy and f = frequency measured at the receiver on Earth. Question 1: Using the definition of z-score and Doppler effect formula (for receding), derive an expression of in term of z. [Answer: =

( z + 1) 1 , where = v/c] 2 ( z + 1) + 1

Now let look at a real example of Doppler shift application--the Most Distant Galaxy Known: (This problem is adapted from MIT) One of the most distant galaxies that has been observed is described as having a redshift of z = 6.58. In this problem, we explore what this means. This galaxy was discovered in 2003 by the Subaru Telescope, a facility supported by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. You can read about it at the following link: <http://www.naoj.org/Pressrelease/2003/03/>. Hot hydrogen gas emits light with a particular set of frequencies, referred to as emission lines. The spectrum of emission lines serves as a finger print, allowing an astronomer who observes it to deduce that she is seeing hot hydrogen gas. The Lyman- line (we will learn this soona note by Dr. Zou) is a prominent feature of the hydrogen spectrum which has a wavelength of 121.6 nm, or 1.216 X 10-7 m. This is the wavelength measured in a laboratory experiment, in which both the hot hydrogen and the detection apparatus (the telescope) are at

rest. [Note that this wavelength is deep in the ultraviolet. The human eye is sensitive to light with wavelengths from about 400 nm (violet light) to about 700 nm (red light).] The Subaru telescope group found a galaxy in which the Lyman- line has wavelength 922 nm. The Doppler shift is so great that ultraviolet light has become infrared! By convention, the redshift z is defined as 1 + z = (observed wavelength/emitted wavelength). In this case, 1 + z = 922/121.6, yielding z = 6.58. Question 2: Using the formula from Question 1 above, deduce the relative velocity between the earth and the distant galaxy, assuming that the galaxy is receding directly away from the earth. [Answer: 0.964c] (This is a good approximation; any transverse velocity would be much smaller than the recession velocity you have calculated.) [Related reading for fun-This is a note from a MIT professor as well: A more complete analysis of the implications of the redshifts of distant galaxies and quasars is beyond the scope of our class. For those of you interested, I thought Id make a few comments. In the 1930s, Edwin Hubble discovered that the more rapidly a galaxy is receding from us, the farther away from us it is. Furthermore, since light from more distant galaxies takes longer to reach us, we see these distant galaxies as they looked long ago, when the universe was younger than it is today. Youll just have to take my word for the following implications of a redshift z = 6.58, as a derivation requires general relativity. The precise relation between redshift and distance is best stated as follows. Consider two galaxies or quasars for example, our galaxy and the quasar observed by Subaru which are separated by a distance R(t). Suppose that R = R0 today. At the time when the light which Fan detected was emitted, R was only R0/(1 + z). Between that long ago time and today, the distance between any two galaxies in the universe has expanded by a factor (1 + z). Einsteins theory of general relativity relates the behavior of R(t) to the density of matter (i.e. galaxies) in the universe. This density is not known well, but is not too far from the critical density, for which Einsteins equations make the particularly simple 2/3 prediction that R(t) is proportional to t . This means

R(t )

t t0

2/3

where t0 is the present age of the universe. Putting it all together, when the light from the distant 3/2 quasar was emitted, the universe was only t0/(1 + z) years old, or about 1/20 of its present age!] Problem 4: Headlight effect [see Tiplers textbook 5 ed. p. 51-52]: Einstein asserts that the speed of light is independent of the source motion for all inertial observers. What about the direction of the light? Is it same as well for all inertial observers? Now let us using an example to find the answer for this question. Consider a light source in S that emits light uniformly in all directions [see figure (a) below, the gray light beams are sketched 180 apart uniformly]. Let us choose any beam, say, a beam of that light emitted at an angle (= 360 for example) with respect to the x axis, as shown in the figure (a) below. During a time t the x displacement of the beam is x, and these are related to by

x' x' = = cos ' ct ' (ct ' )

The direction of the beam relative to the x axis in S is similarly given by

x = cos ct

Question 1: Applying the inverse Lorentz transformation, derive an expression cos in terms of cos and . [Answer: cos =

cos ' + ] 1 + cos '

Question 2: If v = 0.7c, = 360, at what angle does this beam appear in S frame? [Answer: = 150]. In summary, based on the result from questions 1 and 2, light from a directly approaching source appears far more intense than that from the same source at rest. For the same reason, light from a directly receding source will appear much dimmer than that from the same source at rest. This effect is called headlight effect, which has substantial applications in experimental particle physics and astrophysics. Problem 5: Aberration of starlight (Adapted from Spacetime Physics by MIT and Princeton professors on p.80): A star lies in a direction generally perpendicular to Earths direction of motion around Sun. Because of Earths motion, the star appears to an Earth observer to lie in a slightly different direction than it would appear to an observer at rest relative to Sun. This effect is called aberration, as shown in the figure at the right. [A note by Dr. Zou--If this is too abstract to
Not to scale

image, think about rain drops on a not-very-windy day. When you stand on the ground, the rain drops fall down perpendicularly to the ground. When you drive a car with a constant speed with respect to the ground, the rain drops appears falling down with an angle to you.]

(a) Find a trigonometric expression for the aberration angle shown in the figure. [Answer: sin = Vearth (in meters/meter)] (b) Evaluate your expression using the speed of Earth around Sun, Vearth conv = 30 kilometers/second. Find the answer in radians and in seconds of arc (one degree equals 60 minutes of arc; one minute equals 60 seconds of arc.) This change in apparent position can be detected with sensitive equipment. [Answer: sin 10-4 radian = 21 seconds of arc] (c) The non-relativistic answer to this problemthe answer using nonrelativistic physicsis tan = Vearth (in meters/meter). Do you think that the experimental difference between relativistic and nonrelativistic answers for stellar aberration observed from Earth can be the basis of a crucial experiment to decide between the correctness of the two theories? [Answer: sin and tan are both approximately equal to for small . So the answer is no.] Discussion: Of course we cannot climb off Earth and view the star from the Sun frame. But Earth reverses the direction every six months (with respect to what?), so light from a transverse star viewed in, say, July will appear to be shifted through twice the aberration angle calculated in part b compared with light from the same star in January. New question: Since the background of stars behind the one under observation also shifts due to aberration, how can the effect be measured at all? (d) A rocket in orbit around Earth suddenly changes its velocity from a very small fraction of the speed of light to v = 0.5 with respect to Sun, moving in the same direction as Earth in moving around Sun. In what direction will the rocket astronaut now see the star of parts a and b? [Answer: In a direction 0.524 radians = 30 degrees ahead of transverse]

Problem 6--The pole and barn paradox: How to fit a 10-m long pole into a 5-m barn? The goal of this problem is to help you understand how to resolve the apparent paradox of trying to fit a 10mlong pole (D=10m) in a 5m-long barn (L=5m). [Hint: the text on pp. 48-49 might be helpful] The situation: A runner carries a pole 10 m long toward the open front door of a small barn 5 m long. A farmer stands near the barn so that he can see both the front and the back doors of the barn, the latter being a closed swinging door (see the figure at the right) Question 1: What is the minimum speed of the runner needed so that the farmer can see that the pole is completely contained in the barn and he closes the front door, thus putting the 10-m pole into the 5-m barn? [Ans: v = 0.866c] Question 2: If the runner is running at this minimum speed, what is the length of the barn relative to the runner? [Ans: 2.5 m] For the runner, can he fit the pole into the barn? Did you see the paradox seems to arise based on your answers to Question 1 & 2? What is wrong? Do you remember what we have learned about the relativity of simultaneity (p. 18 in the textbook)?Two spatially separated events simultaneous in one reference frame are not simultaneous in any other inertial frame moving relative to the first.

The pole fits only if both ends of the pole are inside the barn simultaneously in S frame, but those events are not simultaneous to a runner moving with the pole, who sees that the right-hand end of the pole pokes through the back of the barn long before the left-hand end makes it to the front door. Question 3: Below we will explore how to resolve the paradox in a more quantitative way. We need to consider both the point-of-view of the farmer (fixed in S, the reference frame of the barn) and of the runner (fixed in S, the reference frame of the pole). Here are initial conditions: At t0 =t0= 0, the front of the pole is at the entrance of the barn: x0 = x0 = 0. Assume the pole is traveling at a speed v = 0.866c relative to S along the positive x direction. From the farmers point-of-view: 1) What is the length of the pole? [Ans: 5 m] 2) What is the length of the barn? [Ans: 5 m] 3) What is the time at which the front of the pole enters the front of the barn? [Ans: zero] 4) What is the time at which the front of the pole leaves the back of the barn? (Assume this is called event 1) [Ans: ct = 5.8 m or t = 19.2 ns] 5) What is the time at which the back of the pole enters the front of the barn? (Assume this is called event 2) [Ans: ct = 5.8 m or t = 19.2 ns] 6) What is the time at which the back of the pole leaves the back of the barn? [Ans: ct = 11.6 m or t = 38.4 ns] 7) Do event 1 and event 2 happen simultaneously in the farmers frame? Is it possible to contain the entire pole in the barn? 8) In the figure at the right, (a) sketch the worldlines of the front of pole and the back of the pole, (b) indicate the slope of each worldline [Ans: 1.16], and (c) indicate the values of the intercepts between the worldline of poles front end and the worldline of the rear door, between the worldline of poles back end and the worldline of the front door, and between the worldline of poles back end and the worldline of the rear door. (d) Are your answers in (c) consistent with those of questions 4)7) above? From the runners point-of-view: 1) What is the length of the pole? [Ans: 10 m] 2) What is the length of the barn? [Ans: 2.5 m] 3) What is the time at which the front of the pole enters the front of the barn? [Ans: zero]

4) What is the time at which the front of the pole leaves the back of the barn? (Assume this is called event 1) [Ans: ct = 2.9 m or t= 9.6 ns] 5) What is the time at which the back of the pole enters the front of the barn? (Assume this is called event 2) [Ans: ct = 11.5 m or t= 38.5 ns] 6) What is the time at which the back of the pole leaves the back of the barn? [Ans: ct = 14.4 m or t = 48.1 ns] 7) Do event 1 and event 2 happen simultaneously in the runners frame? If not, which one happens first? Is it possible to contain the entire pole in the barn? 8) In the figure at the right, (a) sketch the worldlines of the front door of barn and the back door of the barn, (b) indicate the slope of each worldline [Ans: -1.16], and (c) indicate the values of the intercepts between the worldline of barns front door and the worldline of poles back end, between the worldline of barns rear door and the worldline of poles front end, and between the worldline of barns rear door and the worldline of poles back end. (d) Are your answers in (c) consistent with those of questions 4)7) above?