Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-symmetry-and-relativity-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2022/3/c/solution

For , decompose the velocity as , parallel and perpendicular to . A rotation-free Lorentz boost gives the velocity-addition formula
These two components are orthogonal, so
The last equality is Lagrange's identity for the cross product. For physical subluminal speeds, , giving
The case follows directly or by continuity. An independent form useful for checks is , obtained from the transformed four-velocity normalization.

New to topics? Read the docs here!