Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-course-of-the-year-4-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/paper-1/section-b/b7/solution

The proper time satisfies . The collinear transformation from the Earth frame into the instantaneous rest frame gives proper acceleration , so
Starting from rest, integration gives . Hence
Since , a further integration gives
Using Julian years and gives , so the star is about light years away in the Earth frame. The Earth-frame travel time is about years and the final speed is about . The model accelerates toward the star throughout; adding a braking leg would be a different itinerary.

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