Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-symmetry-and-relativity-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2016/4/d/iii/solution

The final unnumbered force question has this inferred third subpart. For either wire's exterior field,
This electromagnetic field invariants is positive in every inertial frame. A purely magnetic nonzero field would instead have . Thus no physical boost makes the interaction purely magnetic. There is a comoving frame with a purely electric interaction, which is consistent with the invariant's sign.
The convected charge current gives the same conclusion. Its effective line-current invariant is , so no inertial frame can neutralize the charge while leaving only a current. In particular for a longitudinal boost of speed , cannot vanish when .
For two identical wires separated by , the laboratory transverse force per unit length is
Electric repulsion exceeds the magnetic attraction. This assumes each moving wire has uncompensated convected charge; a neutral wire carrying conduction current is a different charge-current system and has a different invariant classification.

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