Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-1-paper-of-the-university-of-oxford/2016/6/solution
Past exam of the physics 1 paper of the University of Oxford 2016 6 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Let describe the direction towards the star, measured from the Earth's positive direction of motion. The arriving photon propagates in the opposite direction, so in the stellar frame its four-momentum hasA Lorentz transformation into the Earth's frame, moving at along , givesThe observed stellar bearing is opposite to the transformed photon momentum. Since a photon satisfies ,This is relativistic aberration. For small , : stellar directions shift towards the direction of the observer's motion. Keeping the distinction between stellar bearing and photon propagation direction explains the plus signs.
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