Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2007/ii/paper-1/34e/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ii Paper 1 34E Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Assume an infinite, stationary, uniform thin wire, and no added external homogeneous fields. Its four-current is . A boost along the wire leaves the transverse delta functions unchanged and transforms the time and longitudinal components, givingThe densities are measured per unit simultaneous length in their respective frames; treating charge alone as invariant per unchanged coordinate length would miss the current contribution.
For a coaxial cylinder, Gauss's law gives in the stated units. For a circular loop, Ampère's law gives . Thus and . The same reasoning in the primed frame gives the same expressions with primed densities.
Since and , the Lorentz transformation of electromagnetic fields gives and . Substituting the laboratory fields reproduces the primed-density formulas exactly; parallel components vanish in both frames.
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