Formulation of the classical and the relativistic Doppler effect by a systematic method

Abstract

The classical and the relativistic Doppler effect for both acoustic and light waves are formulated exactly by a systematic method. This method differs only in its usage of classical and relativistic transformation laws in the formulation of the classical and relativistic Doppler effect, respectively. The method is straightforward, and much more logically rigorous than the typical demonstrations using graphical illustration. In the formulation of the classical Doppler effect, as expected, no aberration and no transverse classical Doppler effect are found. In the formulation of the relativistic Doppler effect, one important discovery is that the transverse relativistic Doppler effect depends only on the speed of the source relative to the observer, irrespective of the nonskew velocities of the source and the observer relative to the medium. PACS No.: 03.30.+p