Transformation of E and B for boost in

arbitrary direction

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& Shobhit Mahajan
shobhit.mahajan@gmail.com
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Version 1.0
Last modified on March 3, 2020
 Shobhit Mahajan Electromagnetic Theory & Electrodynamics

0.1 Boost along an arbitrary direction

It is also instructive to find the transformed fields in a frame which is moving with an arbitrary velocity v w.r.t the
unprimed frame. We know that
F i0 = E i

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F ij = ijk Bk
where Bk = −B k where B k as usual is the k th component of B. We also know the Lorentz transformations for a boost

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in an arbitrary direction

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 
Λ00 Λ01 Λ02 Λ03
 Λ10 Λ11 Λ12 Λ13 
Λ(v) = 
 Λ20
 (1)
Λ21 Λ22 Λ23 

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Λ30 Λ31 Λ32 Λ33

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with

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Λ0 0 = γ
0
Λ = −γβ i = γβi

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i
Λi 0 = −γβ i
β i βj
Λi j = δ i j − (γ − 1) (2)

where the Latin indices i, j, · · · go from 1, 2, 3.

& |β|2
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We are now ready to find the transformations of the fields.
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F 0µν = Λµ ρ Λν σ F ρσ
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Therefore
E 0i = F 0i0 = Λi ρ Λ0 σ F ρσ
Expanding the sums, we get
E 0i = Λi 0 Λ0 k F 0k + Λi j Λ0 0 F j0 + Λi j Λ0 k F jk
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Putting in the values of the Λ terms from Eq(2), we get

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β i βj j β i βj
E 0i = −(γβ i )(γβk )(−E k ) + γ(δ i j − (γ − 1) )E + (δ i
j − (γ − 1) )(γβk )(jkm Bm )
|β|2 |β|2
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Simplifying, we get
γ−1 i
E 0i = γE i + γikm βk Bm − β βj E j
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β2
using the antisymmetric nature of . This ensures that the term having βj βk jkm vanishes since βj βk is symmetric in
j, k while jkm is antisymmetric. In vector terms this can be written as
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γ2
E 0 = γ(E + β × B) − β(β · E)
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γ+1
where we have used the fact that
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γ−1 γ2
2
=
β 1+γ
and also that βi E i = −β i E i = −β · E.

For finding the transformation of B, it is much easier to use the transformation of the dual field strength, since

F̃ i0 = B i

1
 Shobhit Mahajan Electromagnetic Theory & Electrodynamics

and
F̃ 0µν = Λµ ρ Λν σ F̃ ρσ
Thus
F̃ 0i0 = Λi ρ Λ0 σ F̃ ρσ

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The Lambda factors are identical to the transformation for E.

B 0i = Λi 0 Λ0 k F̃ 0k + Λi j Λ0 0 F̃ j0 + Λi j Λ0 k F̃ jk

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Now
F̃ 0k = −B k

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F̃ j0 = B j
F̃ jk = −ijk Ei

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where remember that Ei = −E i = −(E)i .

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Putting it all together we get
γ2
B 0 = γ(B − β × E) − β(β · B)

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γ+1
We can write the general transformation of the fields as

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γ2
E 0 = γ(E + β × B) − β(β · E) (3)
γ+1
&
R γ2
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B 0 = γ(B − β × E) − β(β · B) (4)
γ+1
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The inverse transformations as usual can be found by interchanging the primed and unprimed quantities and replacing
β → −β These transformations make clear our observation in the beginning of the course- that electric and magnetic
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fields have no frame independent existence.

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