Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-relativity-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2012/paper-1/1/a/solution
Past exam of the relativity course of the University of Cambridge 2012 Paper 1 1 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
In the rest frame, conservation of energy would require , whereas conservation of momentum would require the photon momentum to vanish. These contradict . More generally, four-momentum conservation would equate the initial massive four-momentum to a null four-momentum, although their Minkowski norms differ:An isolated massive particle cannot decay into one photon in any inertial frame. Directly, a laboratory speed gives and ; matching a photon would require , hence . Recoil against another object could change the kinematics, but would introduce an additional participant.
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