Questions tagged [classical-electrodynamics]

Classical electrodynamics is the discipline that studies electromagnetic phenomena – such as electric and magnetic fields, radiation, and the dynamics of charged bodies – in classical terms.

When to Use this tag.

covers the classical description of both static and dynamic electromagnetic phenomena. is typically used, as an alternative to , to emphasise that the question focuses on the dynamical aspects of electric and magnetic phenomena, as opposed to and . On the other hand, the tag is used for the quantum-field-theoretic approach to electromagnetism.

Background.

The basic equations of classical electromagnetism are the Maxwell equations, $$ \nabla\cdot\vec E=4\pi\rho$$$$ \nabla\cdot\vec B=0$$$$ \nabla\times\vec E=-\frac{1}{c}\frac{\partial\vec B}{\partial t}$$$$ \nabla\times\vec B=\frac{1}{c}\left(4\pi\vec j+\frac{\partial\vec E}{\partial t}\right) $$ together with the Lorentz force, $$ m\dot{\vec v}=q(\vec E+\vec v\times\vec B) $$

The first set of equations, together with some boundary conditions, determine the electric and magnetic fields uniquely. Furthermore, given the pair $\vec E,\vec B$, the last equation, together with some initial conditions, determines the position and velocity of the point particle uniquely. Thus, the Maxwell equations together with the Lorentz force are enough to describe all electric and magnetic phenomena, and their effect on charged bodies.

As it turns out, classical electromagnetism is in fact Lorentz covariant, although this is not obvious from the formulation above. Introducing the so-called field strength tensor $F_{\mu\nu}$, and the four-velocity $u^\mu$, the equations above can be recast in a manifestly covariant form, to wit, $$ \partial_\mu F^{\mu\nu}=j^\nu,\qquad mu^\mu=qF^{\mu\nu}u_\nu $$

For more details, see .

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Pseudoscalar action in classical field theory

I was reading Landau and Lifschitz's "Classical Field Theory" and came across a comment that the action for electromagnetism must be a scalar, not a pseudoscalar (footnote in section 27). So I was wondering, is it possible/interesting to construct a…
Anand
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Why isn't it obvious that a particle doesn't interact with its own field, classically?

The Wheeler-Feynman absorber theory or any other theory that tries to avoid the notion of field as an independent degree of freedom has always been concerned about infinite self energy of a charged particle. I don't feel confident that I appreciate…
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Does a static electric field and the conservation of momentum give rise to a relationship between $E$, $t$, and some path $s$?

For a static electric field $E$ the conservation of energy gives rise to $$\oint E\cdot ds =0$$ Is there an analogous mathematical expression the conservation of momentum gives rise to?
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Electric field created from time varying current in solenoid

I know how to calculate the magnetic field due to current inside the solenoid. Obviously, when the current is varying, then the magnetic field will be time dependent. By the 3rd Maxwell's equation, an electric field will be created. I'm wondering…
user148792
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What happens to electrons in an open circuit?

In the Physics classes, the professor did an experiment using de Van de Graaff generator, by which he held a neon tube radially outward to the V d Graaff dome, and the neon lit up. I understood that this was because there was a potential difference…
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Aharonov–Bohm effect on a non-contractible manifold

The Aharonov–Bohm effect shows the vector potential $\mathbf{A}$ is more fundamental than magnetic flux density $\mathbf{B}$. However, vector potential is introduced by $$ \nabla \times \mathbf{A} = \mathbf{B} $$ or $$ \mathrm{d} \mathbf{A} =…
user26143
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Illegal gauge condition in electrodynamics

Just a quick sanity check here: I'm preparing a tutorial for a class on classical electrodynamics and I wanted to show an example of a gauge condition which leads to a contradiction, so I simply thought of $$(A^\mu)' = A^\mu - \partial^\mu \chi…
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Actual magnetic field inside a toroid

While reading Ampere's circuital law, I saw the equation for the field inside a toroid being given as $$B=\frac{\mu_0 NI}{2\pi r}$$ where $ N=$ number of turns of toroidal coil $I=$ current carried by the coil $r=$ average radius of the coil My…
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Retarded time in Larmor's formula

Let $q$ be the charge of a particle whose motion is $\mathbf y(t)$; let $\boldsymbol \beta = \dot {\mathbf {y}}/c $. Let also $\mathbf x$ be a point in space, and $r=|\mathbf x|$, $\mathbf n = \mathbf x /|\mathbf x|$. Consider the Liénard-Wiechert…
renyhp
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What does the * mean in spherical harmonics?

In Jackson's book about classical electrodynamics, this formula comes up: $$q_{lm} = \int \mathrm d^3 x' \, Y^*_{lm}\left(\theta', \phi'\right) r'^l \rho\left(\vec x'\right)$$ What does that $^*$ mean?
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Why does an EMF develop diametrically in the rotating disk in a magnetic field?

please use the image as a reference i understood that there will be an emf generated here, since the lorentz force will act on the electrons causing them to move towards the center of the disk.. as a result, a net potential difference appears…
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The interaction of a charged particle with its own field

I have seen other questions regarding the mentioned topic. I want an answer to be different in some ways from the answers that were posted in response to the related questions. What exactly are self-force and self-energy? I have read that a charged…
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Magnetic field due to a charge having uniform velocity

Faraday's law states that "Any change in electric field induces a magnetic field and vice versa". I don't see exactly where these fields are induced, but I assume that these fields are induced at each and every point in space. Now, let us consider a…
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Lorentz Force Law in Potential Form

I'm currently reading the chapter "Potentials and Fields" in Griffiths Electrodynamics, 4th edition. I actually had a doubt which is more concerned with vector algebra. So basically the equation written in Griffiths is: $F$ = $\frac{dp}{dt}$ =…
Mayank Jha
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Electrodynamics,Laplace equation

Well the classical image charge problem in electrodynamics,clearly shows a slick way of dealing with some symmetric cases.But that seems somewhat a way of doing back calculations.So could anyone link me with a actual solution of the Poisson equation…
Fellow4
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