Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2008/ib/paper-4/17c/a/solution

The world lines in the train frame are , and . In the station frame, length contraction gives
The emission event is in both frames. The signal world lines in are and ; their intersections with the train endpoints define the reception events . Their velocities in , from the relativistic velocity-addition formula, are and .
The two platform-alignment events occur at in . The Lorentz transformation puts them at in , on the tilted simultaneity line . The spacetime diagrams show all three observers, both signals, their receptions, and these distinct endpoint-alignment events:
Figure 1.
Train and station spacetime diagrams with signal receptions and simultaneous platform alignments
. Details.

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