Publication: Is the Free Electromagnetic Field a Consequence of Maxwell's Equations or a Postulate?
Loading...
Full text at PDC
Publication Date
1998
Advisors (or tutors)
Editors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer
Citations
Exportar
Abstract
It is generally accepted that solutions of so called “free” Maxwell equations for = 0 (null charge density at every point of the whole space) describe a free electromagnetic field for which flux lines neither begin nor end in a charge). In order to avoid ambiguities and unacceptable approximation which have place in the conventional approach in respect to the free field concept, we explicitly consider three possible types of space regions: (i) “isolated charge-free” region, where a resultant electric field with the flux lines which either begin or end in a charge is zero in every point, for example, inside a hollow conductor of any shape or in a free-charge universe; (ii) “non-isolated charge-free” region, where this electric [see (i)] field is not zero in every point; and (iii) “charge-neutral” region, where point charges exist but their algebraic sum is zero. According to these definitions a strict mathematical interpretation of Maxwell's equations gives following conclusions: (1) In “isolated charge-free” regions electric free field cannot be unconditionally understood neither as a direct consequence of Maxwell's equations nor as a valid approximation: it may be introduced only as a postulate; nevertheless, this case is compatible is the existence of a time-independent background magnetic field. (2) In both “charge-neutral” and “non-isolated charge-free” regions, where the condition = function or = 0 respectively holds, Maxwell's equation for the total electric field have non-zero solutions, as in the conventional approach. However, these solution cannot be strictly identified with the electric free field. This analysis gives rise to the reconsideration of the free-electromagnetic field concept and leads to the simplest implications in respect to charge-neutral universe.
Description
The authors are indebted to Profs. V. Dvoeglazov [one of us (H.M.) thanks him for his kind invitation to visit the School of Physics of the Zacatecas University in the context of the CONACyT project No.0270P-E], S. Vlaev, G. Kalberman, O. Guzman, and L.-M. Gaggero for helpful discussion and critical comments. We are especially indebted to the Editor for his choice of the referees: Their valuable remarks helped us improve our reasoning considerably.
UCM subjects
Unesco subjects
Keywords
Citation
E. M. Purcell, Electricity and Magnetism, Berkeley Physics Course, 2nd edn. (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1985), Vol. 2.
L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz, Teoria Polia (Nauka, Moscow, 1973). English translation: Classical Theory of Field (Pergamon, Oxford, 1985). Free Electromagnetic Field 583
A.E.Chubykalo and R.Smirnov-Rueda,Phys.Rev.E 53,5373(1996); see also the Errata, Phys. Rev. E 55, 3793 (1997).
A.E. Chubykalo and R.Smirnov-Rueda,Mod. Phys. Lett. A 12(1), 1 (1997).
H.A.Munera and O.Guzman,Found. Phys.Lett. 10(1), 31(1997).
H.A.Munera and O.Guzman,"An explicit example of a family of non - planar free - space electromagnetic waves containing magnetic scalar potentials," presented at the Vigier Symposium II, Toronto, 1997.
I. E. Tamm, Osnovy teorii elektrichestva (The Principles of the Theory of Electricity) (Nauka, Moscow, 1989).
V. V. Dvoeglazov, Hadronic J. Suppl. 12, 241 (1997).