Past exam of the symmetry and relativity course of the University of Oxford 2019 3 c Solution 2026-10-25
Use and the mostly-plus Minkowski metric fixed in part a. The electromagnetic four-potential and its covariant form areDefine the electromagnetic field tensor by . Since and ,Raising both indices changes the signs of its time-space entries. The lower-index signs agree with [ref]; the signature and index placement must be kept consistent.
For a passive boost to a frame moving with , transform the tensor asFor example, and . Reading off all entries givesFor an arbitrary boost velocity , rotational covariance gives the Lorentz transformation of electromagnetic fieldsHere all velocities are in units. Equivalently the parallel components are unchanged and the perpendicular components have the cross-product expressions multiplied by .