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ELECTROMAGNETIC

FIELD THEORY

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E L E CTR OM AG N ETIC F I E L D TH E ORY

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E L E CTR OM AG N ETIC

F I E L D TH E ORY

S E

Bo Thid

Swedish Institute of Space PhysicsUppsala, Sweden

and

Department of Physics and AstronomyUppsala University, Sweden


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Also available

E L E CTR OM AG N ETIC F I E L D TH E ORY

EXE R C ISES

by

Tobia Carozzi, Anders Eriksson, Bengt Lundborg,Bo Thid and Mattias Waldenvik

Freely downloadable from

www.plasma.uu.se/CEDThis book was typeset in LATEX 2" based on TEX 3.141592 and Web2C 7.5.6

Copyright 19972009 by

Bo ThidUppsala, SwedenAll rights reserved.

Electromagnetic Field TheoryISBN 978-0-486-4773-2

The cover graphics illustrates the radiation pattern of a radio beam endowed with orbital angular momentum,generated by an array of tri-axial antennas. This graphics illustration was prepared by J O H A N SJ H O L M andKR I S T O F F E R PA L M E R as part of their undergraduate Diploma Thesis work in Engineering Physics at UppsalaUniversity 20062007.


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To the memory of professorLE V M I K H A I L O V I C H ER U K H I MO V (19361997)

dear friend, great physicist, poetand a truly remarkable man.


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C ONTE NTS

Contents ix

List of Figures xv

Preface to the second edition xvii

Preface to the first edition xix

1 Foundations of Classical Electrodynamics 11.1 Electrostatics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.1.1 Coulombs law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.1.2 The electrostatic field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.2 Magnetostatics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.2.1 Ampres law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.2.2 The magnetostatic field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.3 Electrodynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91.3.1 The indestructibility of electric charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101.3.2 Maxwells displacement current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1.3.3 Electromotive force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111.3.4 Faradays law of induction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

1.3.5 The microscopic Maxwell equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151.3.6 Diracs symmetrised Maxwell equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151.3.7 Maxwell-Chern-Simons equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

1.4 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

2 Electromagnetic Fields and Waves 192.1 Axiomatic classical electrodynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192.2 Complex notation and physical observables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

2.2.1 Physical observables and averages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212.2.2 Maxwell equations in Majorana representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

2.3 The wave equations for E and B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232.3.1 The time-independent wave equations for E and B . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

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2.4 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

3 Electromagnetic Potentials and Gauges 293.1 The electrostatic scalar potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293.2 The magnetostatic vector potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303.3 The electrodynamic potentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333.4 Gauge transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343.5 Gauge conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

3.5.1 Lorenz-Lorentz gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363.5.2 Coulomb gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403.5.3 Velocity gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

3.6 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

4 Fields from Arbitrary Charge and Current Distributions 454.1 The retarded magnetic field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474.2 The retarded electric field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494.3 The fields at large distances from the sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

4.3.1 The far fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554.4 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

5 Fundamental Properties of the Electromagnetic Field 595.1 Charge, space, and time inversion symmetries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595.2 Conservation laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

5.2.1 Conservation of charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

5.2.2 Conservation of current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635.2.3 Conservation of energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635.2.4 Conservation of linear momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655.2.5 Conservation of angular momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685.2.6 Electromagnetic virial theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

5.3 Electromagnetic duality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715.4 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

6 Radiation and Radiating Systems 776.1 Radiation of linear momentum and energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

6.1.1 Monochromatic signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

6.1.2 Finite bandwidth signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 796.2 Radiation of angular momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816.3 Radiation from a localised source volume at rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

6.3.1 Electric multipole moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816.3.2 The Hertz potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836.3.3 Electric dipole radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876.3.4 Magnetic dipole radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91


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6.3.5 Electric quadrupole radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

6.4 Radiation from an extended source volume at rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

6.4.1 Radiation from a one-dimensional current distribution . . . . . . . . . . . 936.5 Radiation from a localised charge in arbitrary motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

6.5.1 The Linard-Wiechert potentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

6.5.2 Radiation from an accelerated point charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

6.5.3 Bremsstrahlung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

6.5.4 Cyclotron and synchrotron radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

6.6 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

7 Relativistic Electrodynamics 1277.1 The special theory of relativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

7.1.1 The Lorentz transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

7.1.2 Lorentz space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1297.1.3 Minkowski space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

7.2 Covariant classical mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

7.3 Covariant classical electrodynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

7.3.1 The four-potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

7.3.2 The Linard-Wiechert potentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

7.3.3 The electromagnetic field tensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

7.4 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

8 Electromagnetic Fields and Particles 1478.1 Charged particles in an electromagnetic field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

8.1.1 Covariant equations of motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

8.2 Covariant field theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

8.2.1 Lagrange-Hamilton formalism for fields and interactions . . . . . . . . . 154

8.3 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

9 Electromagnetic Fields and Matter 1639.1 Maxwells macroscopic theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

9.1.1 Polarisation and electric displacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

9.1.2 Magnetisation and the magnetising field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

9.1.3 Macroscopic Maxwell equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

9.2 Phase velocity, group velocity and dispersion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1689.3 Radiation from charges in a material medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

9.3.1 Vavilov- LCerenkov radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1709.4 Electromagnetic waves in a medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

9.4.1 Constitutive relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

9.4.2 Electromagnetic waves in a conducting medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

9.5 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185


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F Formul 187F.1 The electromagnetic field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

F.1.1 The microscopic Maxwell equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187F.1.2 Fields and potentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

F.1.3 Force and energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

F.2 Electromagnetic radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

F.2.1 Relationship between the field vectors in a plane wave . . . . . . . . . . 188

F.2.2 The far fields from an extended source distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

F.2.3 The far fields from an electric dipole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

F.2.4 The far fields from a magnetic dipole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

F.2.5 The far fields from an electric quadrupole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

F.2.6 The fields from a point charge in arbitrary motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

F.3 Special relativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

F.3.1 Metric tensor for flat 4D space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

F.3.2 Covariant and contravariant four-vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

F.3.3 Lorentz transformation of a four-vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

F.3.4 Invariant line element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

F.3.5 Four-velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

F.3.6 Four-momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

F.3.7 Four-current density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

F.3.8 Four-potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

F.3.9 Field tensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191F.4 Vector relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

F.4.1 Spherical polar coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

F.4.2 Vector and tensor formul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

F.5 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

M Mathematical Methods 197M.1 Scalars, vectors and tensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

M.1.1 Vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

M.1.2 Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

M.1.3 Vector algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208M.1.4 Vector analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

M.2 Analytical mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

M.2.1 Lagranges equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

M.2.2 Hamiltons equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

M.3 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220


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Index 221


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L IST OF F I GUR ES

1.1 Coulomb interaction between two electric charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.2 Coulomb interaction for a distribution of electric charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.3 Ampre interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.4 Moving loop in a varying B field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

4.1 Radiation in the far zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

6.1 Multipole radiation geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 846.2 Electric dipole geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876.3 Linear antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 946.4 Electric dipole antenna geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 956.5 Loop antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976.6 Radiation from a moving charge in vacuum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1016.7 An accelerated charge in vacuum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

6.8 Angular distribution of radiation during bremsstrahlung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1136.9 Location of radiation during bremsstrahlung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1146.10 Radiation from a charge in circular motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1196.11 Synchrotron radiation lobe width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1216.12 The perpendicular electric field of a moving charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1236.13 Electron-electron scattering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

7.1 Relative motion of two inertial systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1287.2 Rotation in a 2D Euclidean space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1357.3 Minkowski diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

8.1 Linear one-dimensional mass chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

9.1 Vavilov- LCerenkov cone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

M.1 Tetrahedron-like volume element of matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

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P R EFACE TO TH E SE C ON D E DITI ON

This second edition of the book E L E C T R O M A G N E T I C F I E L D TH E O R Y is a major revision ofthe first edition that was published only on the Internet (www.plasma.uu.se/CED/Book). The

reason for trying to improve the presentation and to add more material was mainly that this newedition is now being made available in printed form by Dover Publications and is to be used in anextended Classical Electrodynamics course at Uppsala University. Hopefully, this means that thebook will find new uses in Academia and elsewhere.

The changes include a slight reordering of the chapters. First, the book describes the propertiesof electromagnetism when the charges and currents are located in otherwise free space. Only thenthe we go on to show how fields and charges interact with matter. In the authors opinion, thisapproach is preferable as it avoids the formal logical inconsistency of discussing, very early inthe book, such things as the effect of conductors and dielectrics on the fields and charges (andvice versa), before constitutive relations and physical models for the electromagnetic properties ofmatter, including conductors and dielectrics, have been derived from first principles.

In addition to the Maxwell-Lorentz equations and Diracs symmetrised version of these equa-tions (which assume the existence of magnetic monopoles), also the Maxwell-Chern-Simonsequations are introduced in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2, stronger emphasis is put on the axiomaticfoundation of electrodynamics as provided by the microscopic Maxwell-Lorentz equations. Chap-ter 5 is new and deals with symmetries and conserved quantities in a more rigourous and profoundway than in the first edition. For instance, the presentation of the theory of electromagnetic angularmomentum and other observables (constants of motion) has been substantially expanded and puton a more firm physical basis. Chapter 9 is a complete rewrite that combines material that wasscattered more or less all over the first edition. It also contains new material on wave propagation inplasma and other media. When, in Chapter 9, the macroscopic Maxwell equations are introduced,

the inherent approximations in the derived field quantities are clearly pointed out. The collectionof formul in Appendix F has been augmented. In Appendix M, the treatment of dyadic productsand tensors has been expanded.

I want to express my warm gratitude to professor C E S A R E B AR B I ER I and his entire group,particularly F A B R I Z I O TA M B U R I N I, at the Department of Astronomy, University of Padova,for stimulating discussions and the generous hospitality bestowed upon me during several shorterand longer visits in 2008 and 2009 that made it possible to prepare the current major revision of

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xviii PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

the book. In this breathtakingly beautiful northern Italy, intellectual titan G A L IL E O G A L I L E Iworked for eighteen years and gave birth to modern physics, astronomy and science as we know it

today, by sweeping away Aristotelian dogmas, misconceptions and mere superstition, thus mostprofoundly changing our conception of the world and our place in it. In the process, Galileos newideas transformed society and mankind forever. It is hoped that this book may contribute in somesmall, humble way to further these, once upon a time, mind-bogglingand even dangerousideasof intellectual freedom and enlightment.

Thanks are also due to J OHAN SJ H O L M, KRI ST O FFE R PA L M E R, MA RCU S ERI K SSO N,and JOHAN L I N D BE RG who during their work on their Diploma theses suggested improvementsand additions.

This book is dedicated to my son M A T T I A S, my daughter K A R O L I N A, my four grandsonsMA X , A L B I N , F I L I P and O SK A R, my high-school physics teacher, S T A F F A N R S B Y, andmy fellow members of the C A P E L L A P E D A G O G I C A U P S A L I E N S I S.

Padova, Italy BO TH I D October, 2009 www.physics.irfu.se/bt


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P R EFACE TO TH E F I RST E DITI ON

Of the four known fundamental interactions in naturegravitational, strong, weak, and electro-magneticthe latter has a special standing in the physical sciences. Not only does it, together with

gravitation, permanently make itself known to all of us in our everyday lives. Electrodynamics isalso by far the most accurate physical theory known, tested on scales running from sub-nuclear togalactic, and electromagnetic field theory is the prototype of all other field theories.

This book, EL E CT RO M A G N E T IC F I E L D TH E O R Y, which tries to give a modern view ofclassical electrodynamics, is the result of a more than thirty-five year long love affair. In the autumnof1972, I took my first advanced course in electrodynamics at the Department of TheoreticalPhysics, Uppsala University. Soon I joined the research group there and took on the task of helpingthe late professor P E R O L O F FR M A N, who was to become my Ph.D. thesis adviser, with thepreparation of a new version of his lecture notes on the Theory of Electricity. This opened my eyesto the beauty and intricacy of electrodynamics and I simply became intrigued by it. The teachingof a course in Classical Electrodynamics at Uppsala University, some twenty odd years after Iexperienced the first encounter with the subject, provided the incentive and impetus to write thisbook.

Intended primarily as a textbook for physics and engineering students at the advanced under-graduate or beginning graduate level, it is hoped that the present book will be useful for researchworkers too. It aims at providing a thorough treatment of the theory of electrodynamics, mainlyfrom a classical field-theoretical point of view. The first chapter is, by and large, a description ofhow Classical Electrodynamics was established by JA M E S CL E RK MAXWELL as a fundamentaltheory of nature. It does so by introducing electrostatics and magnetostatics and demonstratinghow they can be unified into one theory, classical electrodynamics, summarised in Lorentzsmicroscopic formulation of the Maxwell equations. These equations are used as an axiomatic

foundation for the treatment in the remainder of the book, which includes modern formulation ofthe theory; electromagnetic waves and their propagation; electromagnetic potentials and gaugetransformations; analysis of symmetries and conservation laws describing the electromagneticcounterparts of the classical concepts of force, momentum and energy, plus other fundamental prop-erties of the electromagnetic field; radiation phenomena; and covariant Lagrangian/Hamiltonianfield-theoretical methods for electromagnetic fields, particles and interactions. Emphasis hasbeen put on modern electrodynamics concepts while the mathematical tools used, some of them

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xx PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

presented in an Appendix, are essentially the same kind of vector and tensor analysis methods thatare used in intermediate level textbooks on electromagnetics but perhaps a bit more advanced and

far-reaching.The aim has been to write a book that can serve both as an advanced text in ClassicalElectrodynamics and as a preparation for studies in Quantum Electrodynamics and Field Theory,as well as more applied subjects such as Plasma Physics, Astrophysics, Condensed Matter Physics,Optics, Antenna Engineering, and Wireless Communications.

The current version of the book is a major revision of an earlier version, which in turn was anoutgrowth of the lecture notes that the author prepared for the four-credit course Electrodynamicsthat was introduced in the Uppsala University curriculum in 1992, to become the five-credit courseClassical Electrodynamics in 1997. To some extent, parts of those notes were based on lecturenotes prepared, in Swedish, by my friend and Theoretical Physics colleague B ENGT LU N D BO RG,who created, developed and taught an earlier, two-credit course called Electromagnetic Radiation

at our faculty. Thanks are due not only to Bengt Lundborg for providing the inspiration to writethis book, but also to professor C HR I S TER WAHLB ER G, and professor GR AN F L D T, bothat the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, for insightful suggestions, toprofessor J O H N LE A RN E D , Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Hawaii, fordecisive encouragement at the early stage of this book project, and to professor G E R A R D U STHO O F T, for recommending this book on his web page How to become a good theoreticalphysicist.

I am particularly indebted to the late professor V I T A L I Y LA Z A RE V I CH G I N Z BU RG, for hismany fascinating and very elucidating lectures, comments and historical notes on plasma physics,electromagnetic radiation and cosmic electrodynamics while cruising up and down the Volgaand Oka rivers in Russia at the ship-borne Russian-Swedish summer schools that were organisedjointly by late professor L E V M I K A H I L O V I CH ERU K H I M O V and the author during the 1990s,and for numerous deep discussions over the years.

Helpful comments and suggestions for improvement from former PhD students T O B I A CA-R O Z Z I, RO G E R KA R L S S O N, and M A T T I A S W A L D E N V I K , as well as A N D E R S E R I K S S O Nand S I A V O U SH MOHAMMADI, all at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics in Uppsala and whohave all taught Uppsala students on the material covered in this book, are gratefully acknowledged.Thanks are also due to the late H E L M U T KO PK A, for more than twenty-five years a close friendand space physics colleague working at the Max-Planck-Institut fr Aeronomie, Lindau, Germany,who not only taught me the practical aspects of the use of high-power electromagnetic radiationfor studying space, but also some of the delicate aspects of typesetting in TEX and LATEX.

In an attempt to encourage the involvement of other scientists and students in the making of thisbook, thereby trying to ensure its quality and scope to make it useful in higher university educationanywhere in the world, it was produced as a World-Wide Web (WWW) project. This turned out tobe a rather successful move. By making an electronic version of the book freely downloadableon the Internet, comments have been received from fellow physicists around the world. To judgefrom WWW hit statistics, it seems that the book serves as a frequently used Internet resource.This way it is hoped that it will be particularly useful for students and researchers working under


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PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xxi

financial or other circumstances that make it difficult to procure a printed copy of the book. Iwould like to thank all students and Internet users who have downloaded and commented on the

book during its life on the World-Wide Web.

Uppsala, Sweden BO TH I D December, 2008 www.physics.irfu.se/bt


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F OUN DATIONS OF C L ASSI C A L

E L E CTRODYNA M I CS

The classical theory of electromagnetism deals with electric and magnetic fieldsand interactions caused by distributions of electric charges and currents. Thispresupposes that the concepts of localised electric charges and currents assumethe validity of certain mathematical limiting processes in which it is consideredpossible for the charge and current distributions to be localised in infinitesimallysmall volumes of space. Clearly, this is in contradistinction to electromagnetismon an atomistic scale, where charges and currents have to be described in quantumformalism. However, the limiting processes used in the classical domain, which,crudely speaking, assume that an elementary charge has a continuous distributionof charge density, will yield results that agree with experiments on non-atomisticscales, small or large.

It took the genius of J A M E S CL E R K MA X W E L L to consistently unify thetwo distinct theories electricity and magnetism into a single super-theory, elec-tromagnetism or classical electrodynamics (CED), and to realise that optics is asub-field of this super-theory. Early in the 20th century, H E N D R I K A N T O O NL O RE N T Z took the electrodynamics theory further to the microscopic scale andalso laid the foundation for the special theory of relativity, formulated in its full

extent by A L B E R T E I N S T E I N in 1905. In the 1930s P A U L A D R I E N MA U -R I C E D I R A C expanded electrodynamics to a more symmetric form, includingmagnetic as well as electric charges. With his relativistic quantum mechanicsand field quantisation concepts, he also paved the way for the development ofquantum electrodynamics (QED) for which R I CH A RD PH I L L I P S F E Y N M A N,J U L I A N S E Y M O U R S C H W I N G E R, and S I N -IT I R O TO M O N A G A in 1965were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Around the same time, physicists

1


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2 j 1. FOUNDATIONS OF CLASSICAL ELECTRODYNAMICS

such as SH E L D O N GL A S H O W, AB D U S SA L A M, and S T E V E N WE I N B E R Gwere able to unify electrodynamics with the weak interaction theory, creating

yet another super-theory, electroweak theory, an achievement which renderedthem the Nobel Prize in Physics 1979. The modern theory of strong interactions,quantum chromodynamics (QCD), is heavily influenced by QED.

In this introductory chapter we start with the force interactions in classicalelectrostatics and classical magnetostatics and introduce the static electric andmagnetic fields to find two uncoupled systems of equations for them. Then wesee how the conservation of electric charge and its relation to electric currentleads to the dynamic connection between electricity and magnetism and how thetwo can be unified into classical electrodynamics. This theory is described by asystem of coupled dynamic field equationsthe microscopic Maxwell equationsintroduced by Lorentzwhich we take as the axiomatic foundation for the theory

of electromagnetic fields.At the end of this chapter we present Diracs symmetrised form of the Maxwell

equations by introducing (hypothetical) magnetic charges and magnetic currentsinto the theory. While not identified unambiguously in experiments yet, magneticcharges and currents make the theory much more appealing, for instance byallowing for duality transformations in a most natural way. Besides, in practicalwork, such as in antenna engineering, magnetic currents have proved to be a veryuseful concept. We shall make use of these symmetrised equations throughoutthe book. At the very end of this chapter, we present the Maxwell-Chern-Simonsequations that are of considerable interest in modern physics.

1.1 Electrostatics

The theory which describes physical phenomena related to the interaction betweenstationary electric charges or charge distributions in a finite space with stationaryboundaries is called electrostatics. For a long time, electrostatics, under thename electricity, was considered an independent physical theory of its own,alongside other physical theories such as Magnetism, Mechanics, Optics, andThermodynamics.1

1 The physicist and philosopherP I E R R E D U H E M (18611916)once wrote:

The whole theory ofelectrostatics constitutesa group of abstract ideasand general propositions,

formulated in the clearand concise language ofgeometry and algebra, andconnected with one anotherby the rules of strict logic.This whole fully satisfiesthe reason of a Frenchphysicist and his tastefor clarity, simplicity andorder....

1.1.1 Coulombs law

It has been found experimentally that in classical electrostatics the interactionbetween stationary, electrically charged bodies can be described in terms oftwo-body mechanical forces. In the simple case depicted in Figure 1.1 on thefacing page, the force F acting on the electrically charged particle with charge q


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1.1. Electrostatics j 3

q0

q

O

x0

x x0

x

Figure 1.1: Coulombs law de-scribes how a static electric chargeq, located at a point x relative to

the origin O , experiences an elec-trostatic force from a static electriccharge q0 located at x0.

located at x, due to the presence of the charge q0 located at x0 in an otherwise

empty space, is given by Coulombs law.2 This law postulates that F is directed 2 CH A R L E S -AU G U S T I N D ECO U L O M B (17361806) wasa French physicist who in 1775published three reports on theforces between electrically chargedbodies.

along the line connecting the two charges, repulsive for charges of equal signsand attractive for charges of opposite signs, and therefore can be formulatedmathematically as

F.x/ D qq0

4"0

x x0jx x0j3 D

qq 0

4"0r

1

jx x0j

D qq

0

4"0r

0

1

jx x0j

(1.1)

where, in the last step, formula (F.115) on page 195 was used. In SI units,which we shall use throughout, the force F is measured in Newton (N), theelectric charges q and q0 in Coulomb (C) or Ampere-seconds (As), and the lengthjx x0j in metres (m). The constant "0 D 107=.4c2/ 8:8542 1012 Faradper metre (Fm1) is the vacuum permittivity and c 2:9979 108 m s1 is thespeed of light in vacuum.3 In CGS units, "0 D 1=.4/ and the force is measured 3 The notation c for speed comes

from the Latin word celeritaswhich means swiftness. This nota-tion seems to have been introducedby W I L H E L M E D U A R D WE -B E R (18041891), and RU D O L FKO H L R A U S C H (18091858) andc is therefore sometimes referredto as Webers constant. In all hisworks from 1907 and onward,A L B E R T E I N S T E I N (18791955)used c to denote the speed of lightin vacuum.

in dyne, electric charge in statcoulomb, and length in centimetres (cm).

1.1.2 The electrostatic field

Instead of describing the electrostatic interaction in terms of a force action at adistance, it turns out that for many purposes it is useful to introduce the concept

of a field. Therefore we describe the electrostatic interaction in terms of a staticvectorial electric fieldEstat defined by the limiting process

Estatdef lim

q!0F

q(1.2)

where F is the electrostatic force, as defined in equation (1.1), from a net electriccharge q0 on the test particle with a small electric net electric charge q. Since


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the purpose of the limiting process is to assure that the test charge q does notdistort the field set up by q0, the expression for Estat does not depend explicitly

on q but only on the charge q0 and the relative radius vector x x0. This meansthat we can say that any net electric charge produces an electric field in the spacethat surrounds it, regardless of the existence of a second charge anywhere inthis space.4 However, in order to experimentally detect a charge, a second (test)4 In the preface to the first edition

of the first volume of his bookA Treatise on Electricity and

Magnetism, first published in 1873,James Clerk Maxwell describesthis in the following almost poeticmanner:

For instance, Faraday, inhis minds eye, saw lines offorce traversing all spacewhere the mathematicians

saw centres of forceattracting at a distance:Faraday saw a mediumwhere they saw nothing butdistance: Faraday soughtthe seat of the phenomenain real actions going onin the medium, they weresatisfied that they had foundit in a power of action at adistance impressed on theelectric fluids.

charge that senses the presence of the first one, must be introduced.Using (1.1) and equation (1.2) on the previous page, and formula (F.114) on

page 195, we find that the electrostatic field Estat at the observation pointx (alsoknown as the field point), due to a field-producing electric charge q0 at the source

pointx0, is given by

Estat.x/ D q0

4"0

x x0

jx

x0

j3

D q0

4"0r

1

jx

x0

jD q

0

4"0r

0

1

jx

x0

j(1.3)In the presence of several field producing discrete electric charges q0i , located

at the points x0i , i D 1 ; 2 ; 3 ; : : : , respectively, in an otherwise empty space, theassumption of linearity of vacuum5 allows us to superimpose their individual

5 In fact, vacuum exhibits aquantum mechanical non-linearity

due to vacuum polarisationeffects manifesting themselvesin the momentary creation andannihilation of electron-positronpairs, but classically this non-linearity is negligible.

electrostatic fields into a total electrostatic field

Estat.x/ D 14"0

Xi

q0ix x0ix x0i

3 (1.4)If the discrete electric charges are small and numerous enough, we can, in a

continuum limit, assume that the total charge q0 from an extended volume to bebuilt up by local infinitesimal elemental charges dq0, each producing an elementalelectric field

dEstat.x/ D dq0

4"0

x x0jx x0j3 (1.5)

By introducing the electric charge density , measured in C m3 in SI units, atthe point x0 within the volume element d3x0 D dx01dx02dx03 (measured in m3),the elemental charge can be expressed as dq0 D d3x0 .x0/, and the elementalelectrostatic field as

dEstat.x/ D d3x0 .x0/

4"0

x x0jx x0j3 (1.6)

Integrating this over the entire source volume V0, we obtain

Estat.x/ D 14"0

ZV0

d3x0 .x0/x x0

jx x0j3

D 14"0

ZV0

d3x0 .x0/r

1

jx x0j

D 14"0

r

ZV0

d3x0.x0/

jx x0j

(1.7)


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1.1. Electrostatics j 5

V0

q0i

q

O

x0i

x x0ix

Figure 1.2: Coulombs law for a dis-tribution of individual charges q0

ilo-

calised within a volume V0 of lim-

ited extent.

where we used formula (F.114) on page 195 and the fact that .x0/ does notdepend on the unprimed (field point) coordinates on which r operates.

We emphasise that under the assumption of linear superposition, equation(1.7) on the facing page is valid for an arbitrary distribution of electric charges,including discrete charges, in which case is expressed in terms of Dirac deltadistributions:6 6 Since, by definition, the integralZ

V0d3x0 .x0 x0i /

ZV0

d3x0 .x 0 x0i/

.y 0y0i /.z0z0i / D 1

is dimensionless, and x has thedimension m, the 3D Dirac deltadistribution .x0 x0

i/ must have

the dimension m3.

.x0/ DX

i

q0i .x0 x0i / (1.8)

as illustrated in Figure 1.2. Inserting this expression into expression (1.7) on the

facing page we recover expression (1.4) on the preceding page.According to Helmholtzs theorem a sufficiently well-behaved vector field

is completely determined by its divergence and curl. Let us therefore takethe divergence of the general Estat expression for an arbitrary electric chargedistribution, equation (1.7) on the facing page, and using the representation ofthe Dirac delta distribution given by formula (F.117) on page 195, one finds that

r Estat.x/ D r 14"0

ZV0

d3x0 .x0/x x0

jx x0j3

D 14"0 ZV0

d3x0 .x0/r r

1

jx

x0

j

D 14"0

ZV0

d3x0 .x0/ r2 1

jx x0j

D 1"0

ZV0

d3x0 .x0/ .x x0/ D .x/"0

(1.9)

which is the differential form ofGausss law of electrostatics .Since, according to formula (F.103) on page 195, r r.x/ 0 for any


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3D R3 scalar field .x/, we immediately find that in electrostatics

r E

stat

.x/ D 1

4"0r r Z

V0d

3

x0.x0/

jx x0j D 0 (1.10)i.e., that Estat is an irrotational field.

To summarise, electrostatics can be described in terms of two vector partialdifferential equations

r Estat.x/ D .x/"0

(1.11a)

r Estat.x/ D 0 (1.11b)

representing four scalar partial differential equations.

1.2 Magnetostatics

While electrostatics deals with static electric charges, magnetostatics deals withstationary electric currents, i.e., electric charges moving with constant speeds,and the interaction between these currents. Here we shall discuss this theory insome detail.

1.2.1 Ampres law

Experiments on the interaction between two small loops of electric current haveshown that they interact via a mechanical force, much the same way that electriccharges interact. In Figure 1.3 on the next page, let F denote such a force actingon a small loop C, with tangential line element dl, located at x and carryinga current I in the direction of dl, due to the presence of a small loop C0, withtangential line element dl0, located at x0 and carrying a current I0 in the directionof dl0 in otherwise empty space. According to Ampres law this force is givenby the expression77 A N D R -MA R I E A M P R E

(17751836) was a French mathe-matician and physicist who, onlya few days after he learned aboutthe findings by the Danish physicist

and chemist HA N S CH R I S T I A N R S T E D regarding the magneticeffects of electric currents, pre-sented a paper to the Acadmie desSciences in Paris, describing thelaw that now bears his name.

F.x/ D 0II0

4

IC

dl I

C0dl0

x x0jx x0j3

D 0II04

IC

dl I

C0dl0 r

1jx x0j

(1.12)

In SI units, 0 D 4 107 1:2566106 H m1 is the vacuum permeability.From the definition of"0 and 0 (in SI units) we observe that

"00 D107

4c2(F m1) 4 107 (H m1) D 1

c2(s2 m2) (1.13)


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I0 directed along the line element dl0 at the source point x0. The SI unit for themagnetic field, sometimes called the magnetic flux density or magnetic induction,

is Tesla (T).If we generalise expression (1.16) on the previous page to an integrated steadystate electric current densityj.x/, measured in A m2 in SI units, we can writeI0dl D dI0 D d3x0 j0.x0/, and we obtain Biot-Savarts law

Bstat.x/ D 04

ZV0

d3x0 j.x0/ x x0

jx x0j3

D 04

ZV0

d3x0 j.x0/ r

1

jx x0j

D 04

r

ZV0

d3x0j.x0/

jx x0j

(1.17)

where we used formula (F.114) on page 195, formula (F.94) on page 194, andthe fact that j.x0/ does not depend on the unprimed coordinates on which roperates. Comparing equation (1.7) on page 4 with equation (1.17) above, wesee that there exists a close analogy between the expressions for Estat and Bstat

but that they differ in their vectorial characteristics. With this definition ofBstat,equation (1.12) on page 6 may we written

F.x/ D II

C

dl Bstat.x/ (1.18)

In order to assess the properties ofBstat, we determine its divergence and curl.Taking the divergence of both sides of equation (1.17) above and utilising formula(F.102) on page 195, we obtain

r Bstat.x/ D 04

r

r

ZV0

d3x0j.x0/

jx x0j

D 0 (1.19)

since, according to formula (F.102) on page 195, r .r a/ vanishes for anyvector field a.x/.

Applying the operator bac-cab rule, formula (F.99) on page 194, the curl ofequation (1.17) above can be written

r Bstat.x/ D 04

r r ZV0d3x0

j.x0/

jx

x0

jD 04

ZV0

d3x0 j.x0/ r2 1

jx x0j

C 04

ZV0

d3x0 j.x0/ r0 r0

1

jx x0j (1.20)

In the first of the two integrals on the right-hand side, we use the representationof the Dirac delta function given in formula ( F.117) on page 195, and integrate


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1.3. Electrodynamics j 9

the second integral by parts, by utilising formula (F.91) on page 194 as follows:

ZV0d

3

x0 j.x0/ r0r0 1jx x0jD Oxk

ZV0

d3x0 r0 j.x0/

@

@x0k

1

jx x0j

Z

V0d3x0

r

0 j.x0/

r

0

1

jx x0j

D OxkZ

S 0d2x0 On0 j.x0/ @

@x0k

1

jx x0j

Z

V0d3x0

r

0 j.x0/

r

0

1

jx x0j

(1.21)

We note that the first integral in the result, obtained by applying Gausss theorem,

vanishes when integrated over a large sphere far away from the localised sourcej.x0/, and that the second integral vanishes because r j D 0 for stationarycurrents (no charge accumulation in space). The net result is simply

r Bstat.x/ D 0Z

V0d3x0 j.x0/.x x0/ D 0j.x/ (1.22)

1.3 Electrodynamics

As we saw in the previous sections, the laws of electrostatics and magnetostaticscan be summarised in two pairs of time-independent, uncoupled vector partialdifferential equations, namely the equations of classical electrostatics

r Estat.x/ D .x/"0

(1.23a)

r Estat.x/ D 0 (1.23b)

and the equations of classical magnetostatics

r Bstat.x/ D 0 (1.24a)r Bstat.x/

D0j.x/ (1.24b)

Since there is nothing a priori which connects Estat directly with Bstat, we mustconsider classical electrostatics and classical magnetostatics as two independenttheories.

However, when we include time-dependence, these theories are unified into asingle super-theory, classical electrodynamics. This unification of the theories ofelectricity and magnetism can be inferred from two empirically established facts:


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1. Electric charge is a conserved quantity and electric current is a transport ofelectric charge. This fact manifests itself in the equation of continuity and, as

a consequence, ini, as we shall see, Maxwells displacement current.

2. A change in the magnetic flux through a loop will induce an electromotiveforce electric field in the loop. This is the celebrated Faradays law of induc-tion.

1.3.1 The indestructibility of electric charge

Let j.t;x/ denote the time-dependent electric current density. In the simplestcase it can be defined as j

Dv where v is the velocity of the electric charge

density .88 A more accurate model is toassume that the individual chargeelements obey some distributionfunction that describes their localvariation of velocity in space andtime.

The electric charge conservation law can be formulated in the equation ofcontinuity for electric charge

@.t;x/

@tC r j.t;x/ D 0 (1.25)

which states that the time rate of change of electric charge .t; x/ is balanced bya divergence in the electric current density j.t;x/.

1.3.2 Maxwells displacement current

We recall from the derivation of equation (1.22) on the preceding page that therewe used the fact that in magnetostatics r j.x/ D 0. In the case of non-stationarysources and fields, we must, in accordance with the continuity equation (1.25)above, set r j.t;x/ D @.t;x/=@t . Doing so, and formally repeating thesteps in the derivation of equation (1.22) on the preceding page, we would obtainthe formal result

r B.t;x/ D 0ZV0

d3x0 j.t;x0/.x x0/

C 04

@

@t

ZV0

d3x0 .t; x0/r0 1

jx x0j

D 0j.t;x/ C 0@

@t"0E.t;x/

(1.26)

where, in the last step, we have assumed that a generalisation of equation (1.7)on page 4 to time-varying fields allows us to make the identification99 Later, we will need to consider

this generalisation and formalidentification further.


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1

4"0

@

@t

ZV0

d3x0 .t; x0/r0

1

jx x0j

D @@t 1

4"0Z

V0d3x0 .t;x0/r 1jx x0j

D @@t

1

4"0r

ZV0

d3x0.t;x0/jx x0j

D @

@tE.t;x/

(1.27)

The result is Maxwells source equation for the B field

r B.t;x/ D 0j.t;x/ C @

@t"0E.t;x/

D 0j.t;x/ C 0"0

@

@tE.t; x/

(1.28)

where "[email protected];x/=@t is the famous displacement current. This, at the time,unobserved term was introduced, in a stroke of genius, by Maxwell in orderto make the right hand side of this equation divergence free when j.t;x/ isassumed to represent the density of the total electric current, which can be splitup in ordinary conduction currents, polarisation currents and magnetisationcurrents. The displacement current behaves like a current density flowing in freespace. As we shall see later, its existence has far-reaching physical consequencesas it predicts that such physical observables as electromagnetic energy, linearmomentum, and angular momentum can be transmitted over very long distances,even through empty space.

1.3.3 Electromotive force

If an electric field E.t; x/ is applied to a conducting medium, a current densityj.t;x/ will be produced in this medium. But also mechanical, hydrodynami-cal and chemical processes can create electric currents. Under certain physicalconditions, and for certain materials, one can sometimes assume that a linear rela-tionship exists between the electric current density j and E. This approximationis called Ohms law:10 10 In semiconductors this approxi-

mation is in general not applicableat all.j.t;x/ D E.t;x/ (1.29)

where is the electric conductivity (S m1). In the case of an anisotropic

conductor, is a tensor.We can view Ohms law, equation (1.29), as the first term in a Taylor ex-

pansion of the law jE.t; x/. This general law incorporates non-linear effectssuch as frequency mixing. Examples of media which are highly non-linear aresemiconductors and plasma. We draw the attention to the fact that even in caseswhen the linear relation between E and j is a good approximation, we still haveto use Ohms law with care. The conductivity is, in general, time-dependent


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(temporal dispersive media) but then it is often the case that equation (1.29) onthe previous page is valid for each individual Fourier (spectral) component of the

field.If the current is caused by an applied electric field E.t; x/, this electric fieldwill exert work on the charges in the medium and, unless the medium is super-conducting, there will be some energy loss. The time rate at which this energy isexpended is j E per unit volume (W m3). IfE is irrotational (conservative), jwill decay away with time. Stationary currents therefore require that an electricfield due to an electromotive force (EMF) is present. In the presence of such afield EEMF, Ohms law, equation (1.29) on the preceding page, takes the form

j D .Estat C EEMF/ (1.30)The electromotive force is defined as

E D IC

dl .Estat C EEMF/ (1.31)

where dl is a tangential line element of the closed loop C.1111 The term electromagnetic forceis something of a misnomer sinceE represents a voltage, i.e., its SIdimension is V.

1.3.4 Faradays law of induction

In Subsection 1.1.2 we derived the differential equations for the electrostatic field.Specifically, on page 6 we derived equation (1.10) stating that r Estat D 0 andthus that Estat is a conservative field (it can be expressed as a gradient of a scalarfield). This implies that the closed line integral ofEstat in equation (1.31) vanishes

and that this equation becomesE D

IC

dl EEMF (1.32)

It has been established experimentally that a non-conservative EMF field isproduced in a closed circuit C at rest if the magnetic flux through this circuitvaries with time. This is formulated in Faradays law which, in Maxwellsgeneralised form, reads

E.t / DI

C

dl E.t; x/ D ddt

m.t /

D ddt ZS d

2x On B.t;x/ D ZS d2x On @

@tB.t;x/

(1.33)

where m is the magnetic flux and S is the surface encircled by C which canbe interpreted as a generic stationary loop and not necessarily as a conductingcircuit. Application of Stokes theorem on this integral equation, transforms itinto the differential equation

r E.t;x/ D @@tB.t;x/ (1.34)


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d2xOn

B.x/ B.x/

v

dlC

Figure 1.4: A loop C which moveswith velocity v in a spatially vary-ing magnetic fieldB.x/ will sense

a varying magnetic flux during themotion.

which is valid for arbitrary variations in the fields and constitutes the Maxwellequation which explicitly connects electricity with magnetism.

Any change of the magnetic flux m will induce an EMF. Let us thereforeconsider the case, illustrated in Figure 1.4, when the loop is moved in such away that it links a magnetic field which varies during the movement. The totaltime derivative is evaluated according to the well-known operator formula

d

dtD @

@tC dx

dt r (1.35)

which follows immediately from the multivariate chain rule for the differentiationof an arbitrary differentiable function f.t;x.t//. Here, dx=dt describes a chosenpath in space. We shall chose the flow path which means that dx=dt D v and

d

dtD @

@tC v r (1.36)

where, in a continuum picture, v is the fluid velocity. For this particular choice,the convective derivative dx=dt is usually referred to as the material derivativeand is denoted Dx=Dt .

Applying the rule (1.36) to Faradays law, equation (1.33) on the facing page,we obtain

E.t / D ddtZ

S

d2x On B D ZS

d2x On @B@t

ZS

d2x On .v r/B (1.37)

Furthermore, taking the divergence of equation (1.34) on the preceding page, wesee that

r @

@tB.t;x/ D @

@tr B.t;x/ D r r E.t;x/ D 0 (1.38)


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1.3.5 The microscopic Maxwell equations

We are now able to collect the results from the above considerations and formulatethe equations of classical electrodynamics valid for arbitrary variations in timeand space of the coupled electric and magnetic fields E.t;x/ and B.t; x/. Theequations are, in SI units ,12 12 In CGS units the microscopic

Maxwell equations are

r E D 4

r E D 1c

@B

@t

r B D 0

r B D 4cj C 1

c

@E

@t

in Heaviside-Lorentz units (one ofseveral natural units)

r E D

r E D 1c

@B

@t

r B D 0

r B D 1cjC 1

c

@E

@t

and in Planck units (another set ofnatural units)

r E D 4

r E D @B@t

r B

D0

r B D 4j C @E@t

r E D "0

(1.49a)

r E D @B@t

(1.49b)

r B D 0 (1.49c)

r BD

0j

C"

0

0

@E

@t D

0j

C1

c2

@E

@t(1.49d)

In these equations D .t;x/ represents the total, possibly both time and spacedependent, electric charge, with contributions from free as well as induced (polari-sation) charges. Likewise, j D j.t;x/ represents the total, possibly both time andspace dependent, electric current, with contributions from conduction currents(motion of free charges) as well as all atomistic (polarisation and magnetisation)currents. As they stand, the equations therefore incorporate the classical interac-tion between all electric charges and currents, free or bound, in the system and arecalled Maxwells microscopic equations . They were first formulated by Lorentzand therefore another name often used for them is the Maxwell-Lorentz equations .Together with the appropriate constitutive relations , which relate and j to thefields, and the initial and boundary conditions pertinent to the physical situationat hand, they form a system of well-posed partial differential equations whichcompletely determine E and B.

1.3.6 Diracs symmetrised Maxwell equations

If we look more closely at the microscopic Maxwell equations (1.49), we see that

they exhibit a certain, albeit not complete, symmetry. Let us follow Dirac andmake the ad hoc assumption that there exist magnetic monopoles represented bya magnetic charge density, which we denote by m D m.t; x/, and a magneticcurrent density, which we denote by jm D jm.t;x/.13 With these new hypotheti-

13 Nobel Physics Laureate JU L I A NSE Y M O U R SC H W I N G E R (19181994) once put it:

.. . there are strongtheoretical reasons tobelieve that magnetic chargeexists in nature, and mayhave played an importantrole in the developmentof the Universe. Searchesfor magnetic chargecontinue at the presenttime, emphasising thatelectromagnetism is very farfrom being a closed object.

cal physical entities included in the theory, and with the electric charge densitydenoted e and the electric current density denoted je, the Maxwell equationswill be symmetrised into the following two scalar and two vector, coupled, partial


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differential equations (SI units):

r E De

"0 (1.50a)

r E D @B@t

0jm (1.50b)r B D 0m (1.50c)

r B D 0je C "00@E

@t(1.50d)

We shall call these equations Diracs symmetrised Maxwell equations or theelectromagnetodynamic equations .

Taking the divergence of (1.50b), we find that

r .r E/ D @@t

.r B/ 0r jm 0 (1.51)

where we used the fact that, according to formula (F.102) on page 195, thedivergence of a curl always vanishes. Using (1.50c) to rewrite this relation, weobtain the equation of continuity for magnetic charge

@m

@tC r jm D 0 (1.52)

which has the same form as that for the electric charges (electric monopoles) andcurrents, equation (1.25) on page 10.

1.3.7 Maxwell-Chern-Simons equations

Developments in condensed matter theory have motivated the study of an exten-sion of classical electrodynamics such that the microscopic Maxwell-Lorentzequations (1.49) on the preceding page are replaced by the Maxwell-Chern-Simons equations (MCS equations) which, in SI units, read

r E D .t; x/"0

C a B (1.53a)

r E D @B@t

(1.53b)

r B D 0 (1.53c)

r B D 0j.t;x/ C "00@E

@t B a E (1.53d)

The MCS equations have been studied in Carroll-Field-Jackiw electrodynamicsand are used, e.g., in the theory ofaxions.


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1.4. Bibliography j 17

1.4 Bibliography

[1] T. W. BARRETT AND D. M. GRIMES, Advanced Electromagnetism. Foundations,Theory and Applications, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1995, ISBN 981-02-2095-2.

[2] R. BECKER, Electromagnetic Fields and Interactions, Dover Publications, Inc.,New York, NY, 1982, ISBN 0-486-64290-9.

[3] W. GREINER, Classical Electrodynamics, Springer-Verlag, New York, Berlin, Heidel-berg, 1996, ISBN 0-387-94799-X.

[4] E. HALLN, Electromagnetic Theory, Chapman & Hall, Ltd., London, 1962.

[5] K. HUANG, Fundamental Forces of Nature. The Story of Gauge Fields , World Sci-entific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd, New Jersey, London, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai,

Hong Kong, Taipei, and Chennai, 2007, ISBN 13-978-981-250-654-4 (pbk).[6] J. D. JACKSON, Classical Electrodynamics, third ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,

New York, NY . . . , 1999, ISBN 0-471-30932-X.

[7] L. D. LANDAU AND E. M. LIFSHITZ, The Classical Theory of Fields, fourth revisedEnglish ed., vol. 2 ofCourse of Theoretical Physics, Pergamon Press, Ltd., Oxford . . . ,1975, ISBN 0-08-025072-6.

[8] F. E. LOW, Classical Field Theory, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY ...,1997, ISBN 0-471-59551-9.

[9] J. C. MAXWELL, A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, third ed., vol. 1, DoverPublications, Inc., New York, NY, 1954, ISBN 0-486-60636-8.

[10] J. C. MAXWELL, A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, third ed., vol. 2, DoverPublications, Inc., New York, NY, 1954, ISBN 0-486-60637-8.

[11] D. B. MELROSE AND R. C. MCPHEDRAN, Electromagnetic Processes in DispersiveMedia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge .. . , 1991, ISBN 0-521-41025-8.

[12] W. K. H. PANOFSKY AND M. PHILLIPS, Classical Electricity and Magnetism,second ed., Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., Reading, MA . . . , 1962,ISBN 0-201-05702-6.

[13] F. ROHRLICH, Classical Charged Particles, third ed., World Scientific Publishing Co.Pte. Ltd., New Jersey, London, Singapore, . . . , 2007, ISBN 0-201-48300-9.

[14] J. A. STRATTON, Electromagnetic Theory, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New

York, NY and London, 1953, ISBN 07-062150-0.

[15] J. VANDERLINDE, Classical Electromagnetic Theory, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., NewYork, Chichester, Brisbane, Toronto, and Singapore, 1993, ISBN 0-471-57269-1.


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E L E CTROM AG N ETI C F I E L DS A N D

WAVES

As a first step in the study of the dynamical properties of the classical electro-magnetic field, we shall in this chapter, as alternatives to the first-order Maxwell-Lorentz equations, derive a set of second-order differential equations for the fieldsE and B. It turns out that these second-order equations are wave equations for Eand B, indicating that electromagnetic wave modes are very natural and commonmanifestations of classical electrodynamics.

But before deriving these alternatives to the Maxwell-Lorentz equations, weshall discuss the mathematical techniques of how to make use of complex vari-ables to represent real-valued physical observables in order to simplify the math-ematical work involved. We will also describe how to make use of the singlespectral component (Fourier component) technique, to enable light-weight alge-bra, at the same time clarifying the physical content.

2.1 Axiomatic classical electrodynamicsIn Chapter 1 we described the historical route which led to the formulation of themicroscopic Maxwell equations. From now on we shall consider these equationsas postulates , i.e., as the axiomatic foundation of classical electrodynamics. Assuch, they describe, in scalar and vector differential equation form, the behaviourin time t 2 R and in space x 2 R3 of the electric and magnetic fieldsE.t; x/ 2 R3

19


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20 j 2. ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS AND WAVES

and B.t;x/ 2 R3, respectively [cf. equations (1.49) on page 15]:

r E

D

"0(Gausss law) (2.1a)

r E D @B@t

(Faradays law) (2.1b)

r B D 0 (No magnetic charges) (2.1c)

r B D 0j C "00@E

@t(Maxwells law) (2.1d)

We reiterate that in these equations .t; x/ and j.t;x/ are the total charge andcurrent densities, respectively. Hence, they are considered microscopic in thesense that all charges and currents, including the intrinsic ones in matter, suchas bound charges in atoms and molecules, as well as magnetisation currents, areincluded (but macroscopic in the sense that quantisation effects are neglected).These charge and current densities may have prescribed arbitrary time and spacedependencies and be considered the sources of the fields, but they may also begenerated by the fields. Despite these dual rles, we shall refer to them as thesource terms in the microscopic Maxwell equations and the two equations wherethey appear as the Maxwell-Lorentz source equations .

2.2 Complex notation and physical observables

In order to simplify the mathematical treatment, we shall frequently allow themathematical variables representing the fields, the charge and current densities,and other physical quantities to be analytically continued into the complex do-main. However, when we use such a complex notation we must be very carefulhow to interpret the results derived within this notation. This is because every

physical observable is, by definition, real-valued.1 Consequently, the mathemati-

1

A physical observable is some-thing that can, at least in principle,be ultimately reduced to an inputto the human sensory system. Inother words, physical observablesquantify (our perception of) thephysical reality and as such theymust, of course, be described byreal-valued quantities.

cal expression for the observable under consideration must also be real-valued tobe physically meaningful.

If a physical scalar variable, or a component of a physical vector or tensor,is represented mathematically by the complex-valued number 2 C, then inclassical electrodynamics (in fact, in classical physics as a whole), one makes

the identification observable

D Re mathematical. I.e., it is always understood thatone should take the real part of a complex mathematical variable in order for it tocorrectly represent a classical physical observable.2

2 This is at variance withquantum physics, whereobservable D mathematical.

I.e., in order that a complex variablein quantum physics is to correctlyrepresent a physical observable,one must make it real-valued bytaking its magnitude. Recall thatRe fg D 1

2. C /, i.e., the

arithmetic mean of and itscomplex conjugate , whereasjj D ./1=2, i.e., the geo-metric mean of and . Undercertain conditions, also the imagi-nary part corresponds to a physicalobservable.

For mathematical convenience and ease of calculation, we shall in the follow-ing regularly useand tacitly assumecomplex notation, stating explicitly whenwe do not. One convenient property of the complex notation is that differentia-tions often become trivial to perform. However, care must always be exercised.


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2.2. Complex notation and physical observables j 21

A typical situation being when products of two or more quantities are calculatedsince, for instance, for two complex-valued variables 1 and 2 we know that

Re f12g Re f1g Re f2g. On the other hand, .12/ D 12.

2.2.1 Physical observables and averages

As just mentioned, it is important to be aware of the limitations of complexrepresentation of real observables when one has to calculate products of physicalquantities. Let us, for example, consider two physical vector fields a.t;x/ andb.t; x/ that are represented by their Fourier components, a0.x/ exp.i!t / andb0.x/ exp.i!t /, respectively, i.e., by vectors in (a domain of) 3D complex spaceC

3. Furthermore, let be a binary operator for these vectors, representing either

the scalar product operator (), the vector product operator (), the dyadic productoperator (juxtaposition), or the outer tensor operator (). Then we make theinterpretation

a.t;x/ b.t;x/ D Re fag Re fbg D Re a0.x/ ei!t Re b0.x/ ei!t (2.2)

Letting denote complex conjugation, we can express the real part of the complexvector a as

Re fag D Rea0.x/ e

i!t

D 1

2a0.x/ e

i!t C a0.x/ ei!t (2.3)

and similarly for b. Hence, the physically acceptable interpretation of the scalarproduct of two complex vectors, representing classical physical observables, is

a.t;x/ b.t;x/ D Re a0.x/ ei!t Re b0.x/ ei!t D 1

2a0.x/ e

i!t C a0.x/ ei!t 1

2b0.x/ e

i!t C b0.x/ ei!t

D 14

a0 b0

C a0 b0 C a0 b0 e2i!t C a0 b0 e2i!t

D 12

Re fa0 b0g C1

2Rea0 b0 e

2i!t D

1

2 Rea0 ei!t b0 ei!t C 12 Re a0ei!t b0 ei!t

D 12

Re fa.t;x/ b.t;x/g C 12

Re fa.t;x/ b.t;x/g(2.4)

Often in physics, we measure temporal averages, denoted h it , of our physi-cal observables. If so, we see that the average of the product of the two physical


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quantities represented by a and b can be expressed as

ha bit hRe fag Re fbgit D1

2 Re fa bg D1

2 Re fa bgD 1

2Re fa0 b0g D

1

2Re fa0 b0g

(2.5)

since the oscillating function exp.2i!t / in equation (2.4) on the preceding pagevanishes when averaged in time over a complete period 2=! (or over infinitelymany periods), and, therefore, ha.t;x/ b.t;x/it gives no contribution.

2.2.2 Maxwell equations in Majorana representation

It is sometimes convenient to introduce the complex-field six-vector, also known

as the Riemann-Silberstein vector

G.t;x/ D E.t;x/ C icB.t;x/ (2.6)

where G 2 C3 even ifE;B 2 R3. This complex representation of the electro-magnetic fields is known as the Majorana representation.33 It so happens that E T T O R E

MA J O R A N A used the definitionG D E icB, but this is noessential difference from thedefinition (2.6). One may say thatMajorana used the other branch ofp

1 as the imaginary unit.

Inserting the Riemann-Silberstein vector into the Maxwell equations (2.1) onpage 20, they transform into

r G.t;x/ D "0

(2.7a)

r G.t; x/

Dic0j C

1

c2

@G

@t (2.7b)

The length of the Riemann-Silberstein vector for E;B 2 R3EX A M P L E 2.1One fundamental property ofC3, to which G belongs, is that inner (scalar) products inthis space are invariant under rotations just as they are in R3. However, as discussed inExample M.3 on page 208, the inner (scalar) product in C3 can be defined in two differentways. Considering the special case of the scalar product ofG with itself, assuming thatE 2 R3 and B 2 R3, we have the following two possibilities of defining (the square of) thelength ofG:

1. The inner (scalar) product defined asG scalar multiplied with itself

G G D .EC icB/ .EC icB/ D E2

c2

B2

C 2icE B (2.8)Since length is an scalar quantity which is invariant under rotations, we find that

E2 c2B2 D Const (2.9a)E B D Const (2.9b)

2. The inner (scalar) product defined as G scalar multiplied with the complex conjugate ofitself


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2.3. The wave equations for E and B j 23

G G D .EC icB/ .E icB/ D E2 C c2B2 (2.10)

which is also an invariant scalar quantity. As we shall see in Chapter 5, this quantity is

proportional to the electromagnetic field energy density.3. As with any vector, the cross product ofG with itself vanishes:

G G D .EC icB/ .EC icB/D E E c2B BC ic.E B/ C ic.B E/D 0C 0C ic.E B/ ic.E B/ D 0

(2.11)

4. The cross product ofG with the complex conjugate of itself does not vanish:

G G D .EC icB/ .E icB/D E EC c2B B ic.E B/ C ic.B E/

D0

C0

ic.E B/

ic.E B/

D 2ic.E B/

(2.12)

is proportional to the electromagnetic power flux, to be introduced later.

End of example 2.1

2.3 The wave equations for E and B

The Maxwell-Lorentz equations (2.1) on page 20 are four first-order differentialequations that are coupled (both E and B appear in the same equations). Twoof the equations are scalar [equation (2.1a) and equation (2.1c)], and two are in3D Euclidean vector form [equation (2.1b) and equation (2.1d)], representingthree scalar equations each. Hence, the Maxwell equations represent in fact eightscalar first-order partial differential equations (1 C 1 C 3 C 3). However, it is wellknown from the theory of differential equations that a set of first-order, coupledpartial differential equations can be transformed into a smaller set of second orderpartial differential equations, which can become decoupled in the process. Itturns out that in our case we will obtain one second-order differential equation forE and one second-order differential equation for B. These second-order partialdifferential equations are, as we shall see, wave equations, and we shall discussthe implications of them. For certain media, the B wave field can be easily

obtained from the solution of the E wave equation but in general this is not thecase.

To bring the first-order differential equations (2.1) on page 20 into second orderone needs, of course, to operate on them with first-order differential operators.If we apply the curl vector operator (r) to both sides of the two Maxwellvector equations, equation (2.1b) and equation (2.1d), assuming that our physicalquantities vary in such a regular way that temporal and spatial differentiation


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commute, we obtain the second order differential equations

r .

r E/ D

@

@t .r B/ (2.13a)

r .r B/ D 0r j C "00@

@t.r E/ (2.13b)

As they stand, these second-order partial differential equations still appear to becoupled. However, by using the Maxwell equations once again we can formallydecouple them into

r .r E/ D 0@j

@t "00

@2E

@t 2(2.14a)

r .r B/ D 0r j "00@2B

@t 2(2.14b)

Using to the operator triple product bac-cab rule equation (F.99) on page 194,which gives

r .r E/ D r.r E/ r2E (2.15)

when applied to E and similarly to B, Gausss law equation (2.1a) on page 20,and then rearranging the terms, recalling that "00 D 1=c2 where c is the speedof light in vacuum, we obtain the two inhomogeneous vector wave equations

2E D 1c2

@2E

@t 2 r2E D r

"0 0

@j

@t(2.16a)

2B D 1c2 @2

B@t 2 r2B D 0r j (2.16b)

where 2 is the dAlembert operator, defined according to formula (M.97) onpage 215.

These are the general wave equations for the electromagnetic fields, generatedin regions where there exist sources .t; x/ and j.t;x/ of any kind. Simpleeveryday examples of such regions are electric conductors (e.g., radio and TVantennas) or plasma (e.g., the Sun and its surrounding corona). In principle, thesources and j can still cause the wave equations to be coupled, but in manyimportant situations this is not the case.44 Clearly, if the current density

in the RHS of equation (2.16b) is

a function ofE, as is the case ifOhms law j D E is applicable,the coupling is not removed.

We notice that outside the source region, i.e., in empty space where D

0 andj D 0, the inhomogeneous wave equations (2.16) simplify to the well-knownuncoupled, homogeneous wave equations

1

c2@2E

@t 2 r2E D 0 (2.17a)

1

c2@2B

@t 2 r2B D 0 (2.17b)


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2.3. The wave equations for E and B j 25

These equations describe how the fields that were generated in the source region,e.g., a transmitting antenna, propagate as vector waves through empty space.

Once these waves impinge upon another region which can sustain charges and/orcurrents, e.g., a receiving antenna or other electromagnetic sensor, the fieldsinteract with the charges and the currents in this second region in accordance withequations (2.16) on the preceding page.

Wave equations expressed in terms of Riemann-Silberstein vectors E X A M P L E 2.2

Using the Maxwell equations expressed in the Riemann-Silberstein vectorG D EC icB, i.e.,equations (2.7) on page 22, one can perform similar steps as was used in deriving equations(2.16) on the preceding page and one finds that

2G D 1

c2@2G

@t 2 r2G D r

"0 0

@j

@tC i0cr j (2.18)

Taking the real and imaginary parts of this equation, assuming that E;B 2 R3, we recoverthe wave equations for E and B, as expected.

End of example 2.2

Maxwell-Lorentz equations as a Schrdinger/Pauli/Dirac-like equation E X A M P L E 2.3

Using the Riemann-Silberstein vector G and the momentum operator

yp D ir (2.19)the Majorana representation of the Maxwell-Lorentz equations in free space can be writtenas

ic

@G

@tC iyp G D 0 (2.20a)

yp G D 0 (2.20b)The first equation represents the dynamics and the second equation represents the transver-sality condition p D k ? G where we anticipate the quantal relation between the fieldmomentum p and the wave vectork.

Using the matrix vector

M D Mi Oxi (2.21)defined b

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