Four-momentum
Or 4-momentum. Not to be confused with energy-momentum tensor.
Four-momentum
- The first component is the energy term, expressed as
, where is energy and is the speed of light. - The next three components are the standard momentum components in the x, y, and z directions.
So
The norm of this four-momentum vector is a special quantity. It's calculated using the Minkowski metric and is related to the invariant mass of the particle. This norm is constant for all observers, regardless of their relative motion, and it's equal to
with
In the reference frame of the particle, the spatial components of the four-momentum are zero. So we have
and then
And in an arbitrary inertial frame we have:
Relation to four-current
The four-current is a kind of four-momentum density. See four-current#Relation to four-momentum.