Special Relativity of Electric and

Magnetic Fields
Branislav K. Nikoli
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, U.S.A.
PHYS 208 Honors: Fundamentals of Physics II
http://www.physics.udel.edu/~bnikolic/teaching/phys208/phys208.html
PHYS 208 Honors: Special Relativity of Electromagnetic Fields
Electric and Magnetic Fields Depend
on the Reference Frame
PHYS 208 Honors: Special Relativity of Electromagnetic Fields
Galilean Relativity
d d d
r r R v v V
dt dt dt

= + = +


r r R

= +


d d
v v a a F ma ma F
dt dt

= = = = =


PHYS 208 Honors: Special Relativity of Electromagnetic Fields
Galilean Transformations of E and B Fields:
Weak Relativistic Approximation ( ) v c
1 v c F F

E E v B

= +

To get transformation formulas for magnetic

field one has to use full special relativity
derivation and then take its limit for v c
2
1
B B v E
c

Fields are measured at the same point in space by

experimenters at rest in each reference frame
PHYS 208 Honors: Special Relativity of Electromagnetic Fields
Bio-Savart Law as Coulomb Law Transformed
Into Moving Reference Frame
2
0

, 0
4
q r
E B
r
= =

2
0
0 0
2 2 2

4
1
Biot-Savar:
4 4
q r
E E
r
q q
B v r V r V E
r r c

= =

= = =



PHYS 208 Honors: Special Relativity of Electromagnetic Fields
Faradays Law of EM Induction Revisited
Motional EMF detected by an inertial
observer may appear as a curly EMF to
another observer
LAB Frame:
LOOP Frame:
1 2
,1 0 ,2 0 0
0
,
(0, 0, ), (0, 0, )
( )
L L
motional
x vt x b vt
B B vt B B b B vt
v B ds vB A
= = +
= = +
= =

0
0
0
no motion, ( )
(0, 0, )
z
F F
F
curly
A
B B x vt
B
B v
t
B
dA vB A
t

= +

= =

( )
curly F L
ABCD ABCD
E ds E v B ds = = +




for v c
PHYS 208 Honors: Special Relativity of Electromagnetic Fields
Almost Special Relativity
0 1
1 1
2 2
0
1

,
4 4
q v q
E j B k
r r

= =

2
0 1
1 1 1
2 2 2 2
0 0
0 0 1 1
1 1 1
2 2 2 2 2 2
0 0 0
1 1

1
4 4 4
1 1 1 1


1 0
4 4 4
q v q q v
E E V B j vi k j
r r r c
q v q v q
B B V E k vi j k
c r c r r c

= + = + =

= = =




?
PHYS 208 Honors: Special Relativity of Electromagnetic Fields
Lorentz-Einstein Transformations of
Electric and Magnetic Fields
2 2
1
E E
E V B
E
v c

=
+

2
2 2
1
B B
B V E c
B
v c

Simple Corollaries:
2
2 2 2
1. 0, 0
2. 0, 0
3. EM Field Invariants: .; .
E B B B B V E c
B E E V B
E B const E c B const

= = + =

= =
= =

Electric and Magnetic Fields are different facets of a single electromagnetic field
whose particular manifestation (and division into its E and B components) depends
largely on the chosen reference frame!
PHYS 208 Honors: Special Relativity of Electromagnetic Fields
Electromagnetic Field of Freely Moving
Relativistic Charge
MOVING (with charge) S-Frame:
2 2
2 2 2 3/ 2 3
0
1
4 (1 sin )
q v c R
E
v c R

2
1
B v E
c
=

3
0
4
q R
E
R

0 B =

2 2
cos , sin x vt R y z R = + =
LAB S-Frame:
Electric Field
PHYS 208 Honors: Special Relativity of Electromagnetic Fields
Electromagnetic Force Between
Two Moving Charges
2 2 2 2
1
2 2 2 3/ 2 2
2 2 2
0 0
1 1

4 (1 sin 90 ) 4
1
electric
q v c q
F qE j j
v c r
r v c

= = =

2 2
0
1 1
2
2 2 2
1

( )
4
1
magnetic
q v
F qv B qv vE j j
c
r v c

= = =

2
2
0 0
2
2 2 2 2
2
0
1

1 1
4
magnetic
electric
Lorentz electric magnetic Lorentz
F
v
v
c
F
q
F F F v c j F v c
r

= =

= + = =

In the classical Galileo-Newton world signals propagate at
infinite velocity ( ) and magnetism is absent!
For ultrarelativistic particles
magnetic electric
v c F F
c
PHYS 208 Honors: Special Relativity of Electromagnetic Fields
Transformation Laws for Charge and
Current Densities
Interaction of current a current carrying wire and a particle with charge q in two intertial frames:
2
0
2
2
0
1 2
4
2
magnetic
F qv B
Iqv
F
c r
A q v
I vA F
r c

=
=
= =

q
r
0 v

+
+
= v v

=
I
S
q
r
v v

+
+

= 0 v

=
' S
I

2 2
2 2
2 2
2 2
2 2
0
0
2 2
2 2 2 2
0
0, 0
', , 1
, ' 1 ,
1
( ' )
2
2 1
2
1 1
magnetic electric
F F
Q Q LA L A L L v c
v c
v c
A Av c
E
r
r v c
A q v c F
F qE
r
v c v c

+
+ +
+ +
+
=
= = =
= = =

+
= =

= = =

2 2 2 2
,
1 1
proper proper
v
J v
v c v c

= = =

2 2 2 2
Force Transformation Law:
'
, '
1 1
y
y
p
F t t F
t F
p F t
v c v c


= = =