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    MIT8 962S20 Pset01

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    Robin Red Msiska
    Problem sets 8.962 is MIT's graduate course in general relativity, which covers the basic principles of Einstein's general theory of relativity, differential geometry, experimental tests of general relativity, black holes, and cosmology.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    MIT8 962S20 Pset01

    Uploaded by

    Robin Red Msiska
    259 views4 pages
    Problem sets 8.962 is MIT's graduate course in general relativity, which covers the basic principles of Einstein's general theory of relativity, differential geometry, experimental tests of general relativity, black holes, and cosmology.

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    MIT8_962S20_pset01

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    Problem sets 8.962 is MIT's graduate course in general relativity, which covers the basic principles of Einstein's general theory of relativity, differential geometry, experimental tests of general relativity, black holes, and cosmology.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    259 views4 pages

    MIT8 962S20 Pset01

    Uploaded by

    Robin Red Msiska
    Problem sets 8.962 is MIT's graduate course in general relativity, which covers the basic principles of Einstein's general theory of relativity, differential geometry, experimental tests of general relativity, black holes, and cosmology.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 4

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    Department of Physics
    8.962 Spring 2006

    Problem Set 1

    1. (a) [5 pts] Show that the sum of any two orthogonal spacelike vectors is spacelike.
    (b) [5 pts] Show that a timelike vector and a null vector cannot be orthogonal.

    2. In some reference frame, the vector fields U� and D � have the components
    . √
    U α = (1 + t2 , t2 , 2t, 0)
    . √
    Dα = (x, 5tx, 2t, 0) .

    The scalar ρ has the value

    ρ = x2 + t2 − y 2 .
    .
    (The relationship “LHS = RHS” means “the object on the left-hand side is represented
    by the object on the right-hand side in the specified reference frame.”)
    � is suitable as a 4-velocity. Is D
    (a) [3 pts] Show that U �?

    � , for arbitrary
    (b) [3 pts] Find the spatial velocity v of a particle whose 4-velocity is U
    t. Describe the motion in the limits t = 0 and t → ∞.

    (c) [3 pts] Find ∂β U α for all α, β. Show that Uα ∂β U α = 0. (There’s a clever way to
    do this; do it the brute force way instead.)

    (d) [3 pts] Find ∂α Dα .

    (e) [3 pts] Find ∂β (U α Dβ ) for all α.

    (f) [3 pts] Find Uα ∂β (U α Dβ ). Why is the answer so similar to that for (d)?

    (g) [3 pts] Calculate ∂α ρ for all α. Calculate ∂ α ρ.

    (h) [3 pts] Find �U� ρ and �D� ρ.

    1
    � and the tensor
    3. Consider a timelike unit 4-vector U

    Pαβ = ηαβ + Uα Uβ .

    Show that this tensor is a projection operator that projects an arbitrary vector V� into
    � . In other words, show that the vector V�⊥ whose components are
    one orthogonal to U

    V⊥α = P α β V β

    is

    (a) [5 pts] orthogonal to U

    (b) [5 pts] unaffected by further projections:


    α
    V⊥⊥ ≡ P α β V⊥β = V⊥α .

    �:
    (c) [5 pts] Show that Pαβ is the metric for the space of vectors orthogonal to U

    Pαβ V⊥α W⊥β = V�⊥ · W


    �⊥ .

    (d) [5 pts] Show that for an arbitrary nonnull vector �q, the projection tensor is given
    by
    qα q β
    Pαβ (q α ) = ηαβ − .
    q γ qγ

    Do we need a projection tensor for null vectors?

    4. [15 pts] Let ΛB (v) be a Lorentz boost associated with 3-velocity v. Consider

    Λ ≡ ΛB (v1 ) · ΛB (v2 ) · ΛB (−v1 ) · ΛB (−v2 )

    where v1 · v2 = 0. Assume v1 � 1, v2 � 1.

    Show that Λ is a rotation. What is the axis of rotation? What is the angle of rotation?

    2
    5. “Superluminal” motion
    The quasar 3C 273 emits relativistic blobs of plasma from near the massive black hole
    at its center. The blobs travel at speed v along a jet making an angle θ with respect
    to the line of sight of the observer. Projected onto the sky, the blobs appear to travel
    perpendicular to the line of sight with angular speed vapp /r where r is the distance to
    3C 273 as and vapp is the apparent speed.

    (a) [7 pts] Show that

    v sin θ
    vapp = .
    1 − v cos θ

    (b) [5 pts] For a given value of v, what value of θ maximizes vapp ? What is the corre­
    sponding maximal value of vapp ? Can this be greater than the speed of light? If so, is
    special relativity violated?

    (c) [3 pts] For 3C 273, vapp � 10c. What is the largest possible value of θ (in degrees)?

    6. GZK cutoff in the cosmic ray spectrum


    (a) [8 pts] Calculate the threshold energy of a nucleon N for it to undergo the reaction
    γ + N → N + π 0 , where γ represents a microwave background photon of energy kT
    with T = 2.73 K. Assume the collision is head-on and take the nucleon and pion masses
    to be 938 MeV and 135 MeV, respectively.

    (b) [5 pts] Explain why one might expect to observe very few cosmic rays of energy
    above ∼ 1011 GeV.

    (c) [3 pts] This expectation is called the Griesen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) cutoff. Mod­
    ern observations show no sharp cutoff; there may even be evidence for an upturn in
    cosmic ray flux at these energies. Can you suggest a mechanism by which the GZK
    cutoff can be avoided?

    3
    MIT OpenCourseWare
    https://ocw.mit.edu

    8.962 General Relativity


    Spring 2020

    For information about citing these materials or our Terms of Use, visit: https://ocw.mit.edu/terms.

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