G ‘Topics in Contemporary Phy: Edited by J.A.Heras and R.V.Jiménez (IPN,Mérico, 2000) Covariant formulation of the field equations of a proposed duality-invariant electromagnetic theory of material sources José A. Heras PESTYC, Instituto Politénico Nacional, Apartado Postal 13-378, 09501 ‘Mécico Distrito Federal, México Departamento de Fisica, Escuela Superior de Fisica y Matemdticas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, UP Zacatenco, CP 07798, Mézico 7 Abstract The field equations of a recently proposed electromagnetic theory based ‘on a duality symmetry of polarization and magnetization sources (J. A. Heras, Phys. Rev. E 88 6951 (1998)] are written in a manifestly co- variant form. ‘The covariant equations are then integrated by means of the Helmholtz theorem for antisymmetric second-rank tensors in Minkowski space-time, ‘A set of Maxwell-type equations that describe consistently the external electric and magnetic fields of polarization and magnetization sources in vacuum has been recently proposed {1]. In Gaussian units these equations are given by 8r. V-E=-7V-P, oope20.m, _10B 4 aM xs ne m ) 10E _ én wae vxp- iE E(evxm+2 r), (le) (ae) (1c) cia)Topics in Contemporary Physics 78 where IB and IB denote the electric and magnetic fields of the theory and the vectors P and M define the polarization and magnetization sources which are prescribed independently of the fields IE and IB as electric and magnetic dipole moment densities. The connection between Eqs. (1) and the usual Maxwell's equations for electric and magnetic fields of material sources: V-E=-42V-P, (2a) Vv-B=0, (26) 18B VxEto> (2c) 1B _4r ap’ VxB-iG-- (vem +S), (2d) is as follows. The solutions of Eqs. (1) and (2) are connected by means of the relationships 1]: (3a) (38) These equations admit a straightforward interpretation. Since the fields IE and BB describe the electric and magnetic fields outside the material sources and thie contact terms —(4/3)P and +(87/3)M represent the fields inside the sources then Maxwell's fields E and B actually describe the electric and magnetic fields inside and outside the sources. Evidently, in the region outside the sources the fields E and B coincide with the fields IE and IB. There is, however, a substantial difference between Eqs. (1) and Eqs. (2): The proposed Eqs. (1) are invariant under the duality transformations (1}: IE = Ecos@ ~ Bsin6, (4a) B’ = Esin@ + Boos6, (4b) P’ = Pcosé — Msin8, (40) M’ = Psin@ + Mcosé, (4a) where 0 is a real parameter, whereas Eqs. (2) are not invariant under these transformations. According to Eqs. (3) the Maxwell's fields E and B are not duality-invariant because of the contact terms are not duality-invariant, It is in- teresting to note that Eqs. (3) constitute a natural result derived from Maxwell's theory and not a convention. Standard literature provides, however, another dif- ferent relationships in which the fields E and B are involved: E = D ~ 4aPTopics in Contemporary Physies 9 and B = H + 4xM, where D is the electric displacement and H the magnetic intensity. Nevertheless, the introduction of the fields D and H is a matter of convention rather than of physical considerations. In particular, the distinction between the field Hi and the field B is still a source of controversy (2]. Moreover, the observed dipole duality symmetry cannot be made explicit in the field equa- tions by introducing the vectors D and H. The fact is that Eqs. (3) constitute ultimately the retarded solution of Eqs. (2) written in a form that may be directly and naturally interpreted. As pointed out in Ref. 1, Eqs. (1) naturally explain the exact similarity observed between the external field-lines of an electric dipole ‘and those due to a magnetic dipole [1]. Furthermore, since the traditional ex- pressions of Hertz for the fields of an oscillating electric dipole are usually defined outside the dipole then such expressions actually constitute a formal solution of Eqs. (1) rather than of Eqs. (2). This result is consistent with the common use of duality to obtain the fields of an oscillating magnetic dipole from those of an ‘oscillating electric dipole. Some physical implications of Eqs. (1) were discussed in Ref. 1 In this paper the proposed duality-invariant electromagnetic field equations given in Eqs. (1) ere written in a manifestly covariant form. The covariant equa- tions are then integrated by means of the Helmholtz theorem for antisymmetric second-rank tensors in Minkowski space-time (3,4). The retarded covariant solu- tion is shown to contain the previously derived three-space solutions (1). Greek indices run from 0 to 3 and Latin indices run from 1 to 3; 2 = a = (z°,2‘) with x° = ct; the signature of the metric nus is (1,-1,-1,J); @*”99 is the totally antisymmetric four-tensor with <9 = 1 and eis the totally antisym- metric three-tensor with ¢% = 1. Summation convention on.repeated indices is adopted. Consider the antisymmetric field tensor F4(z) defined by its components F® = (E)! and FY = -c4*(IB),. The dual "F#"(x) = (1/2)e"”°9Fag(x) has the components °F = (1B)' and °F = c*(IE),. With the fields FH” and *F# fone can construct the following two four-vectors: 0,7 = (9-E, vxp-12) (5a) or = (v-B, -vxE- 15) (30) ‘The antisymmetric “contact” tensor Q(z) is defined by its components Q®° = (4n/3)(P)' and Q® = (81/3)e9*(M),. The dual *Q*”(z) has the components *Q® = —(81/3)(M)! and *Q= (47 /3)e4*(P),. With the fields Qu” and *Q*Y one can obtain the four-vectors ap 20 xM-+ 6a 2VxM = ) (6a)‘Topics in Contemporary Physics 80 an 2M) (6) a0 =S(-2-M, -VxP+io Finally, consider the usual antisymmetric material tensor P(x) with compo- nents P® = -(P)' and Pi = ~c'¥*(M),. With the field P#” one can construct the four-vector 16P ,PM = (-9-P. vamsie), 7) In terms of the above defined quantities, the tensor form of Es. (1) is given by 8, FH” = 8,(QY + 4nP™), (8a) anFH = 8,0" (8) ‘With Eqs. (5a), (6a) and (7) one can directly show that the 0-component and the ij-component of Eq. (8a) give Eqs. (1a) and (1d) respectively. Analogously, by using Eqs. (5b) and (6b) the 0-component and the jj-component of Eq. (8b) yield Eqs. (1b) and (1c) respectively. Equations (8) can be integrated by means of the Helmholtz theorem for anti- symmetric second-rank tensors in Minkowski space-time (M*) [3,4], which states that an antisymmetric tensor Z#*(x) that vanishes at spatial infinity is com- pletely determined by specifying its divergence 6,2” and the divergence of its dual 8,2”. An expression of the field 2” in terms of 6,2!” and 87,2" is given by [4]: 20 (a) = HF [ 6(e,2")0aZMa!)\dte! =y age [oe 2 1a. 2°al)ee (9) ‘where d‘2" is the volume element in M¢ and the integrals are taken over all M¢; the propagator G(x, 2’) = (47 R)-'4(u) [where u=t+R/c—t! with R= |x—~'| being the magnitude of R = (x= x’)] is the free-space retarded Green function of the wave equation which satisfies 6,0¢G(z,2') = é(a — a’); the three-index operator 8%” is defined as [4]: KY = BOM — shar, (10) and its dual by "OX" = (1/2)e”°89,6, which satisfies the properties *[*O{”] = —@R” and G,[°8"] = 0. By making the identification 24” = FH” in Eq. (9) and using Eqs. (8) one directly obtains FY) = apa. f ota, 239%e'y"s — a 2 | ta.2' Maas +080 [ G(az)PM(alydta ayTopics in Contemporary Physics 81 With the aid of the identity (4): 2509S! = BEY (gS?) —* OLAS), (a2) where S"” is an antisymmetric tensor, one can show that the first two terms of (11) [with the identification S® = [ G(z,2')Q?*(z')d'2'] combine to give 8,8" J G(2,2')QH (z2')d'a’ = Q"(x) and thus Eq. (11) becomes FHM (2) = QM (a) + 4188 Be f Gla,2')PA(a')aa" (13) ‘This tensor expression represents the retarded sclution of Eqs. (8). The compo- nents of Eq. (18) reproduce the previously derived vector solutions (1). To show this consider first the i0-component of Eq. (13) Feng? ff (Protas *2] - rere, [*2] 270, [Deore (aa) where the time integration is from —oo to +-00 and the spatial integration is over all space. Equation (14) can be written in a vector form E-$psf f(e-vy pv - pS [6] -M x pave 1) exe (as) By making use of the following results [5]: 6(u)] nt nt 95 (u) ‘ Rl - Roe Gs) uy) _ (Sntni~ 8% ar ac vn o) eS (== Tab (x ») 5(u) antnt — 68°) a6 nin!) 66 (u) -( Fe ) ae oe - |(n = R/R)' =n], the spatial derivatives in Eq, -(15) (or in Eq, (14)] ean be transformed into time derivatives,