Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-symmetry-and-relativity-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2021/3/a/ii/solution
Past exam of the symmetry and relativity course of the University of Oxford 2021 3 a ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
In the magnetic-dominated case the suitable Lorentz boost instead hasThe hypothesis gives . The electromagnetic field invariants now have , allowing a purely magnetic inertial frame. The initial velocity is again , perpendicular to . Since a magnetic field does no work, the electron's relativistic energy and speed in this inertial frame remain constant. Its trajectory is a circle in the plane with Lorentz factor and cyclotron frequency .
For , set and . A parametrization with the correct initial velocity and Lorentz force isTransforming the world line back to the laboratory givesThe laboratory trajectory is a stretched cycloid, with cusps at where the electron is momentarily at rest. It first accelerates toward , then curves toward , returning to its original coordinate each cycle while advancing in . Its mean drift is , the E-cross-B drift. Its laboratory kinetic energy oscillates as the electric field does positive and then negative work; it does not grow indefinitely. The strict inequalities in the two branches exclude the null case , where neither field can be removed by a finite Lorentz boost.
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