Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2009/ia/paper-4/10a/a/solution

For , define the Lorentz factor . A particle of rest mass has
These expressions give the relativistic energy-momentum relation directly:
so .
The four-momentum is
where is the four-velocity, the proper-time derivative of . It is a four-vector, so its Minkowski metric norm is invariant under Lorentz transformations. Choose metric signature ; in the particle's rest frame, and . In any frame the same norm is . Equating the two yields the same relativistic energy-momentum relation. With the opposite metric convention both norm expressions change sign, leaving the energy relation unchanged.

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