Entry requirements

120 credits with Linear Algebra II and Mechanics III.

Learning outcomes

A student who has successfully passed the course should be able to

• transform displacements, velocities, momenta, etc. from one inertial frame to another
• explain and compute doppler shifts, aberrations and other light phenomena
• determine outcomes of relativistic colissions including Compton scattering
• explain the concept of the stress-tensor and determine it in different inertial frames
• write down Maxwell's equations in covariant form
• solve Maxwell's equations in the vacuum for various situations, including a radiating particle

Content

Lorenz transformations: Minkowski space. Interval, proper time. Rotation group and Lorenz group. 4-vectors. Dirac and Majorana spinors.

Relativistic Mechanics: 4-velocity and 4-momentum. Relativistic particles. 4-force and 4-acceleration. Energy-momentum conservation. Collisions.

Relativistic treatment of electromagnetism: 4-vectors for electric charge and current density, tensor form of electromagnetic fields. Relativistic motion for a point charge in an electromagnetic field. Maxwell's equations in covariant form. Electromagnetic wave equation.

Instruction

Lectures and tutorials.

Assessment

Written examination.

In addition there are hand-in problems. Credit points from these are included only in the regular exam and the first regular re-exam.

Other directives

The course may not be included in the same higher education qualifications as 1FA154 Analytical mechanics and special relativity.