Instantaneous fields in classical electrodynamics

Abstract

In this paper we express the retarded fields of Maxwell's theory in terms of the instantaneous fields of a Galilei-invariant electromagnetic and we find the vector function whose spatial and temporal derivatives transform the instantaneous fields into the retarded ones. We conclude that the instantaneous fields can formally be introduced as unphysical objects into classical electrodynamics which can be used to find the physical retarded fields.

A minor correction is made in the abstract of the version published in Europhys. Letts

Cited by in corpus (3)

• How potentials in different gauges yield the same retarded electric and magnetic fields
• Comment on 'A generalized Helmholtz theorem for time-varying vector fields by A. M. Davis, [Am. J. Phys. 74, 72-76 (2006)]'
• Comment on 'Helmholtz theorem and the v-gauge in the problem of superluminal and instantaneous signals in classical electrodynamics,' by Chubykalo et al [Found. of Phys. Lett, 19, 37-46 (2006)]