2
$\begingroup$

I'm doing a special relativity past exam paper and have got caught up with something that I hope someone can help me with!

I have to show that for constant fields, the magnitude of A, the acceleration 4-vector, is constant.

Given that the 4-force in the presence of electric and magnetic fields is $f^{\mu}=eF^{\mu\nu}U_{\nu}$ we can use $A^{\mu}=\frac{f^{\mu}}{m}$ to get $\frac{d|A^2|}{d\tau}=2A_\mu\frac{dA^\mu}{d\tau}=2\frac{e}{m}F^{\mu\nu}A_{\mu}A_{\nu}$. Now apparently this last expression equals zero but I cant work out or find any justification for this, can anyone help?

$\endgroup$

1 Answer 1

3
$\begingroup$

$F^{\mu \nu}$ is antisymmetric, and $A_\mu A_\nu$ is symmetric in its indices.

$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Cheers, should have seen that $\endgroup$
    – Dmist
    Commented Apr 7, 2013 at 12:15

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.