ERIC Number: EJ873688
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Mar
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0143-0807
EISSN: N/A
Can the Lorenz-Gauge Potentials Be Considered Physical Quantities?
Heras, Jose A.; Fernandez-Anaya, Guillermo
European Journal of Physics, v31 n2 p307-315 Mar 2010
Two results support the idea that the scalar and vector potentials in the Lorenz gauge can be considered to be physical quantities: (i) they separately satisfy the properties of causality and propagation at the speed of light and do not imply spurious terms and (ii) they can naturally be written in a manifestly covariant form. In this paper we introduce expressions for the Lorenz-gauge potentials: at the present time in terms of electric and magnetic fields at the retarded time. These expressions provide a third result in favour of a physical interpretation of the Lorenz-gauge potentials: (iii) they can be regarded as causal effects of the observed electric and magnetic fields.
Descriptors: Physics, Measurement Equipment, Science Instruction, Magnets, Energy, Scientific Principles, Equations (Mathematics), Measurement Techniques
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A