Struggling to derive Lorentz transformations for a sine wave, which is traveling at random direction. I started by prooving that phase ϕ is invariant for relativity and that equation ϕ=ϕ′ holds. By using the above equation i am now trying to derive Lorentz transformations for angular frequency ω, and all three components of the wave vector k, which are k_x, k_y and k_z.

Zaiden Soto

Zaiden Soto

Open question

2022-08-28

struggling to derive Lorentz transformations for a sine wave, which is traveling at random direction. I started by prooving that phase ϕ is invariant for relativity and that equation ϕ = ϕ holds.
By using the above equation i am now trying to derive Lorentz transformations for angular frequency ω, and all three components of the wave vector k, which are k x , k y and k z .
This is my attempt:
ϕ = ϕ ω Δ t + k Δ r = ω Δ t + k Δ r ω Δ t + [ k x , k y , k z ] [ Δ x , Δ y , Δ z ] = ω Δ t + [ k x , k y , k z ] [ Δ x , Δ y , Δ z ] ω Δ t + k x Δ x + k y Δ y + k z Δ z = ω Δ t + k x Δ x + k y Δ y + k z Δ z
ω γ ( Δ t Δ x u c 2 ) + k x γ ( Δ x u Δ t ) + k y Δ y + k z Δ z γ ( ω Δ t ω Δ x u c 2 ) + γ ( k x Δ x k x u Δ t ) + k y Δ y + k z Δ z γ ( ω Δ t k x c c Δ t u c 2 ) + γ ( k x Δ x ω c u Δ x c ) + k y Δ y + k z Δ z Δ t γ ( ω k x u ) + Δ x γ ( k x ω u c 2 ) + k y Δ y + k z Δ z
From this I can write down the Lorentz transformations.
γ ( ω k x u ) = ω γ ( k x ω u c 2 ) = k x k y = k y k z = k z
What am i doing wrong?

Answer & Explanation

Willow Avery

Willow Avery

Beginner2022-08-29Added 11 answers

The problem is actually easy to spot if you compare to the entry for Lorentz transformation. Your primes (') should actually be on the other side. Otherwise it looks like you are trying to do an inverse transform with the wrong sign convention. Paying attention to signs might at first seem trivial, but is important when one realizes that one could inadvertently add a negative sign to the the determinant, which indicates a reflection in spacetime. Since a reflection for large objects would be akin to taking your mirror image (changing you from left to right handed), this is generally forbidden for classical objects.

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