Physics

Physics · modern-physics

Problem

5. Calculate the velocity of the particle

\beta(\tau)

, when the time as experienced by the particle is

\tau

. Express the answer in

g, \tau

, and

c

. Given constants: Global Positioning System (GPS) is a navigation technology which uses signal from satellites to determine the position of an object (for example an airplane). However, due to the satellites high speed movement in orbit, there should be a special relativistic correction, and due to their high altitude, there should be a general relativistic correction. Both corrections seem to be small but are very important for precise measurement of position. We will explore both corrections in this problem. First we will investigate the special relativistic effect on an accelerated particle. We consider two types of frame, the first one is the rest frame (called

S

or Earth's frame), where the particle is at rest initially. The other is the proper frame (called

S^{\prime}

), a frame that instantaneously moves together with the accelerated particle. Note that this is not an accelerated frame, it is a constant velocity frame that at a particular moment has the same velocity with the accelerated particle. At that short moment, the time rate experienced by the particle is the same as the proper frame's time rate. Of course this proper frame is only good for an infinitesimally short time, and then we need to define a new proper frame afterward. At the beginning we synchronize the particle's clock with the clock in the rest frame by setting them to zero,

t=\tau=0

(

t

is the time in the rest frame, and

\tau

is the time shown by particle's clock). By applying equivalence principle, we can obtain general relativistic effects from special relavistic results which does not involve complicated metric tensor calculations. By combining the special and general relativistic effects, we can calculate the corrections needed for a GPS (global positioning system) satellite to provide accurate positioning. Some mathematics formulas that might be useful -

\sinh x=\frac{e^{x}-e^{-x}}{2}

\cosh x=\frac{e^{x}+e^{-x}}{2}

\tanh x=\frac{\sinh x}{\cosh x}

1+\sinh ^{2} x=\cosh ^{2} x

\sinh (x-y)=\sinh x \cosh y-\cosh x \sinh y

\int \frac{d x}{\left(1-x^{2}\right)^{\frac{3}{2}}}=\frac{x}{\sqrt{1-x^{2}}}+C

\int \frac{d x}{1-x^{2}}=\ln \sqrt{\frac{1+x}{1-x}}+C

Part A. Single Accelerated Particle Consider a particle with a rest mass

m

under a constant and uniform force field

F

(defined in the rest frame) pointing in the positive

x

direction. Initially

(t=\tau=0)

the particle is at rest at the origin

(x=0)

. Context question: 1. When the velocity of the particle is

v

, calculate the acceleration of the particle,

a

(with respect to the rest frame). Context answer:

a=\frac{F}{\gamma^{3} m}

Context question: 2. Calculate the velocity of the particle

\beta(t)=\frac{v(t)}{c}

at time

t

(in rest frame), in terms of

F, m, t

and

c

. Context answer:

\beta=\frac{\frac{F t}{m c}}{\sqrt{1+\left(\frac{F t}{m c}\right)^{2}}}

Context question: 3. Calculate the position of the particle

x(t)

at time

t

, in term of

F, m, t

and

c

. Context answer:

x=\frac{m c^{2}}{F}\left(\sqrt{1+\left(\frac{F t}{m c}\right)^{2}}-1\right)

Context question: 4. Show that the proper acceleration of the particle,

a^{\prime} \equiv g=F / m

, is a constant. The proper acceleration is the acceleration of the particle measured in the instantaneous proper frame. Context answer: 证明题

Intuitive explanation

The key is recognizing that proper time $\tau$ (what the particle's clock reads) runs slower than coordinate time $t$ in the rest frame—by a factor of $\gamma$ . Use the time dilation relation $d\tau = dt/\gamma$ and integrate it together with the velocity formula from problem 2 to find how $v$ depends on $\tau$ rather than $t$ . The hyperbolic functions provided are hints that the answer will involve $\sinh$ or $\tanh$ of a simple combination like $g\tau/c$ .

Intuitive explanation

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