File:Relativistic effects on circular polarization.gif

Relativistic_effects_on_circular_polarization.gif(480 × 480 pixels, file size: 4.58 MB, MIME type: image/gif, looped, 101 frames, 10 s)

Captions

Captions

A circularly polarized plane wave, as seen by someone moving sideways.

Summary edit

Description
English: If you move sideways with respect to a circularly polarized plane wave at a fraction of the speed of light, you will see several effects, including:
  • The phase won't be uniform anymore (which is the same as saying you will see the wave coming from a different direction)
  • The frequency will increase with your speed even though you are not moving toward or away from the wave (transverse Doppler effect)
Date
Source https://twitter.com/j_bertolotti/status/1275465886581903360
Author Jacopo Bertolotti
Permission
(Reusing this file)
https://twitter.com/j_bertolotti/status/1030470604418428929


Mathematica 12.0 code edit

c = 1;
\[Omega] = 1;
kz = \[Omega]/c;
vx = 0.01 t1 c; (*for the sake of the animation the velocity grows with time, but we are neglecting any acceleration*)
v = {vx, 0, 0};
dir = FullSimplify[v/Sqrt[v[[1]]^2 + v[[2]]^2 + v[[3]]^2]];
\[Gamma] = 1/Sqrt[1 - Norm[v]^2/c^2];
e = {Cos[kz z - \[Omega] t], Sin[kz z - \[Omega] t], 0}; (*electric field in the "still" frame of reference. In this case a circularly polarized plane wave propagating along z*)
\[CurlyPhi] = 0;
A = FullSimplify[-Integrate[e, t]]; (*Find potentials in the Weyl Gauge*)
(*test for Lorenz gauge!*)Div[A, {x, y, z}] == -1/c^2 D[\[CurlyPhi], t]
lorentzcoord = Simplify[{x1, y1, z1} + (\[Gamma] - 1) {x1, y1, z1}.dir*dir + \[Gamma] t1 v];
\[CurlyPhi]1 = (\[Gamma] (\[CurlyPhi] - v.A) /. {t -> \[Gamma] (t1 + v.{x1, y1, z1}/c^2), x -> lorentzcoord[[1]], y -> lorentzcoord[[2]], z -> lorentzcoord[[3]]});
A1 = (\[Gamma] (A.dir*dir - v/c^2 \[CurlyPhi]) + (A - A.dir*dir)) /. {t -> \[Gamma] (t1 + v.{x1, y1, z1}/c^2), x -> lorentzcoord[[1]], y -> lorentzcoord[[2]], z -> lorentzcoord[[3]]};
e1 = FullSimplify[-Grad[\[CurlyPhi]1, {x1, y1, z1}] - D[A1, t1] , Assumptions -> {t1 \[Element] Reals}] (*Electric field in the "moving" frame of reference*)

p0 = Table[
   Graphics[{Arrowheads[0.02],
     Table[ Arrow[{{x1, y1}, {x1, y1} + 0.8 e1[[1 ;; 2]] /. {t1 -> \[Tau], z1 -> 0}}], {x1, -10, 10, 2}, {y1, -10, 10, 2}],
     Orange, Table[Line[Table[{x1, y1} + 0.8 e1[[1 ;; 2]] /. {t1 -> \[Tau]}, {z1, 0, 10, 0.1}] ], {x1, -10, 10, 2}, {y1, -10, 10, 2}],
     Purple, Thick, Arrow[{{0, -11.5}, {0, -11.5} + 5 v[[1 ;; 2]] /. {t1 -> \[Tau]}}],
     Text[ Style[StringForm["v=``c", NumberForm[Norm[v /. {t1 -> \[Tau]}], {3, 2}]], Purple, Bold], {-2, -11.5}]
     }, PlotRange -> {{-12, 12}, {-12, 12}}]
   , {\[Tau], 0, 50, 0.5}];
ListAnimate[p0]

Licensing edit

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license:
Creative Commons CC-Zero This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

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Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current11:36, 24 June 2020Thumbnail for version as of 11:36, 24 June 2020480 × 480 (4.58 MB)Berto (talk | contribs)Uploaded own work with UploadWizard

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