Module I: Electromagnetic waves

Lecture 8: EM wave equation with sources

Amol Dighe TIFR, Mumbai

Outline

Wave equation for and A with sources

Solving the wave equation with sources

Coming up...

Wave equation for and A with sources

Solving the wave equation with sources

Why the potentials A and ?

We already have the wave equation satised by E and B in the absence of any charge or current sources: 2 E and similarly for B. However when sources ( and J) are introduced, they affect E and B in rather complicated ways. Therefore (with hindsight) we formulate our problem in terms of A and , the vector and scalar potentials, respectively. When we come to relativity and covariance of equations, well appreciate the importance of A and even more. 2E E =0 t t 2 (1)

A and : denitions
Maxwells equation B = 0 alows us to write B as the curl of a vector, we dene this vector as A: B=A (2)

Note that this does not dene A completely, since A has not yet been dened, so the uniqueness theorem 1 is not satised. Maxwells equation E = B/ t then implies E = This allows us to write E= A t (4) A t (3)

where is a scalar. This is the denition of . Note that is also not uniquely dened.

Gauge freedom for A and

As obserbed earlier, A and are not uniquely dened. Indeed, we can carry out simultaneous gauge trasformations A = A , = + t (5)

with any arbitrary scalar , and these new potentials A and will still give us the same E and B. Since E and B are the physically measurable quntities, the potentials (A, ) and (A , ) are equivalent This freedom of choosing any corresponds to the gauge symmetry. We can choose to do the calculations in any convenient gauge, the nal measurable quantities will turn out to be identical / gauge invariant.

Wave equation for A

We have already used two Maxwells equations while dening A and : they will be satised automatically. Using B = J + ( E/ t ), where J = Jext + E, we get ( A) = Jext + A t + 2A t 2 t (6)

Using ( A) = 2 A + ( A), this leads to 2 A A 2A 2 = Jext +( A) + () + t t t (7)

If we now use our gauge freedom to make A + + (/ t ) = 0, (called as the Lorentz gauge), the we get the wave equation for A: 2 A A 2A 2 = Jext t t (8)

Wave equation for

We now see where the remaining Maxwells equation, E = / leads us to A t = ( A) 2 = t (9)

Now we use the same Lorentz condition as before to replace A by (/ t ), which leads to 2 2 2 = t t (10)

Note that the form of the equation for is the same as that for A, with the charge a the source, instead of the current.

Coming up...

Wave equation for and A with sources

Solving the wave equation with sources

The wave equations in vacuum

In vacuum, the wave equations take the form 2 2 A 1 2 c2 t 2 1 2A c2 t 2 =
0

(11) (12)

= 0 J

We drop the sufx on J for the sake of brevity. We already know that for the static situation, i.e. when the ( 2 / t 2 ) terms are absent: 2 (x) = (x)
0

(x) =

1 4 0 0 4

(x ) 3 d x |x x | J(x ) 3 d x |x x |

(13) (14)

2 A(x) = 0 J(x) A(x) =

We expect (hope) that the solution to the time-dependent wave equation may be similar.

Fourier analysis
Let us try solving a general equation 1 2 (x, t ) = g (x, t ) (15) c2 t 2 by using the method of Fourier transform and Greens function. 2 (x, t ) Write the solution (x, t ) and the source g (x, t ) in terms of their Fourier transforms and g :

(x, t ) =

(x)ei t d ,

g (x, t ) =

g (x)ei t d , (16)

where the Fourier transforms are dened as 1 1 (x, t ))ei t d , g (x) = (x) = 2 2

g (x, t ))ei t d ,

(17) In terms of the Fourier transforms, the wave equation becomes 2 (x) = g (x) (18) c2 which well now try solving using the method of Greens function. 2 (x) +

The method of Greens function

The method of Greens functions implies that: If G(x, x ) is a solution to the Greens equation 2 G(x, x ) = (x x ) c2 then the solution to (x) is obtained as 2 G(x, x ) + (x) = g (x )G(x, x )d 3 x (19)

(20)

This may be checked by explicit substitution. The Greens equation is spherically symmetric, so we expect a spherically symmetric solution, i.e. G(x x ) is simply G(r ). The Greens equation is then 1 [rG(r )] + k 2 G(r ) = (r ) r r This has a solution (that may be checked by substitution): G(r ) = 1 ikr 1 e G(x, x ) = eik |xx | 4 r 4 |x x | (22) (21)

Solution for (x) and (x, t )

The Greens function method has now given us the solution for (x): g (x ) ik |xx | 3 1 (x) = e d x (23) 4 |x x | Inverse Fourier transform gives us the solution for (x, t ): (x, t ) = 1 4 g (x ) i (t k |xx |) 3 e d x |x x | (24)

In terms of t t k |x x |/c , this becomes (x, t ) = 1 4 g (x , t ) 3 d x |x x | (25)

This is the solution to our wave equation

Properties of the solution to wave equation

The solution formally looks the same as the solution for the static case, except the time dependence, which appears through t+ and t : the advanced and retarded times respectively. This implies that the potentials at any point depend on the source distribution at some other times: in particular, at times t = t |x x |/c . This is akin to a signal taking time |x x |/c to travel from the source at x to affect the potential at x . Thus, the disturbance caused by the sources travels with the speed c . That is, the speed of light is c . When we are dealing with the effect of time-varying sources on the potentials, advanced solutions are not physical since they would violate causality. They will need to be considered when, later in the course, well be dealing with the back-reaction of the changes in potential on the sources.

The retarded potentials

The retarded potentials, caused by time-varying sources, are: 1 (x, t ) = 4 0 x ,t

|xx | c

|x x | J x ,t
|xx | c

d 3x

1 4 0

[(x )] 3 d x |x x | (26) [J(x )] 3 d x |x x | (27)

|xx | c

0 A(x, t ) = 4

|x x |

d 3x

0 4

where [f (x)] is a convention used to write f x, t

Recap of topics covered in this lecture

Denitions of the potentials A and , gauge freedom Lorentz gauge and wave equations for A and in the presence of sources (charges and currents) Solution to the wave equation in vacuum, using Fourier transforms and Greens function Advanced and retarded solutions for the potentials A and