One interesting consequence of the relativistic Doppler effect is due to the fact that the energy of a pulse of light remains proportional to the frequency under transformations from one system of inertial coordinates to another. Hence if we are approaching a source of light, the energy of a given pulse of light (relative to our rest frame) from that source is greater than if we were receding from the source, and the ratio of energies for these two cases is exactly proportional to the ratio of frequencies. (This is consistent with the quantum relation E = hn.) Now, consider an stationary object that emits two equal pulses of light in opposite directions, and then consider the amount of energy carries away by these pulses with respect to a coordinate system moving with speed v along the axis of the pulses. Classically the frequency (and hence the energy) of the forward-going pulse would be Doppler shifted by the factor 1 + v, and the backward-going pulse would be shifted by the factor 1 v, so if each pulse carried energy DE/2 relative to the original stationary coordinates, for a total energy of DE, the energy emitted relative to the moving coordinates would be (DE/2)(1 + v) + (DE/2)(1 v) = DE. Thus the energy emitted is the same. However, using the relativistic formula, the total emitted energy with respect to the moving coordinates is
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Thus the combined energy content of the emitted pulses is slightly greater with respect to the moving coordinates than with respect to the stationary coordinates. Relative to the stationary coordinates, let E denote the total energy of the object prior to the emissions, and define the parameter m1 such that the total energy of the object increases by (1/2)m
1v
2 for an incremental velocity v. In these terms, the total energy of the object prior to the emissions is E relative to the stationary coordinates, and E + (1/2)m
1v
2 relative to a system of coordinates moving (along the axis of the pulses) with an increment speed v.
Following the emission of the pulses the total energy of the object is E - DE relative to the stationary coordinates, (the object remains stationary by symmetry, because the pulses are equal and opposite), and we can define a parameter m2 such that the total energy of the object increases by (1/2)m
2v
2 for an incremental velocity v. Thus the total energy of the object following the emissions is E - DE + (1/2)m
2v
2 relative to the moving system. Therefore, the change in energy of the object relative to the moving system of coordinates, which must equal the energy DE of the pulses relative to the moving coordinates, is
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This implies that
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Using the classical Doppler formula we have DE - DE = 0, and so m
1 = m
2, which signifies that the constant of proportionality m (usually called rest mass) between v
2 and the change in E for incremental values of v is unaffected by the emission of the light pulses. However, the relativistic Doppler effect for two oppositely-directed pulses with incremental v gives (as noted above)
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Therefore we have
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and so
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which signifies that the rest mass of the object has been reduced by the amount DE/c
2 due to the emission of energy DE. This is the argument that Einstein gave in his 1905 paper entitles Does the Inertia of a Body Depend on its Energy Content?. Of course, the argument assumes that energy is conserved with respect to each individual inertial coordinate system, and that the energy of an electromagnetic wave transforms from one system to another in proportion to the frequency (as implied by Maxwells equations as well as the relation E = hn). But even with these assumptions, its noteworthy that the mass-energy equivalence relies crucially on the relativistic, as opposed to the classical, Doppler shift.