Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-relativity-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/section-b/6/e/solution
Past exam of the relativity course of the University of Cambridge 2021 Section B 6 e Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
Let be the constant proper acceleration away from the emitter and set . Take the signal emission to be simultaneous, in the initial inertial frame, with the ship being at rest and its clock reading . Place that initial ship event at , . Its hyperbolic motion isA photon emitted from at towards the departing ship follows . At reception,Therefore light reception by a uniformly accelerated observer occurs afterThe same result follows in Rindler coordinates: the ship stays at , the emitter starts at , and the right-moving null ray has . The onboard lapse converts its coordinate catch-up time to the expression above.
If , the ray lies on the limiting null horizon and never intersects it at finite proper time; if , it never reaches the ship. The reception time diverges as the emitter approaches this Rindler horizon. For , , recovering the inertial light-travel time. A different emission time or initial relative velocity would require specifying that extra datum; the formula uses the initial-rest simultaneous-emission convention stated above.
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