Chapter 4.

Potentials and Fields

4.1 Potential formulation
4.2 Coulomb’s and Lorentz’s gauges
4.3 Continuous distributions
4.4 Retarded potentials
4.5 Jefimenko’s equations
4.6 Lienard-Wiechert’s potentials
4.7 Field of moving point charge
 4.1 The Potential Formulation

4.1.1 Scalar and Vector Potentials

• How the sources (ρ and J) generate electric and magnetic fields, in other words,
we seek the general solution to Maxwell's equations

• In the static case Coulomb's law and the Biot-Savart law provide the answer.
the generalization of those laws to time-dependent configurations.
• The fields in terms of potentials  , since in electrostatics

  B 
• Electric field for the time-varying case
n 0


• In terms of V and A, then,

 4.1.1 Scalar and Vector Potentials

• For Gauss's law (i) and the Ampere Maxwell law (iv), we find that

• or, using the vector identity

Example 4.1
Find the charge and current distributions that would give rise to the potentials

where k is a constant, and c

Problem 10.1
 Gauge Transformations
Suppose we have two sets of potentials, (V, A) and (V', A'), which correspond to the
same electric and magnetic fields.

Since the two A's give the same B, their curls must be equal, and hence

We can therefore write a as the gradient of some scalar:

The two potentials also give the same E, so

The term in parentheses is therefore independent of position (it could, however,

depend on time); call it k(t):
 10.1.3 Coulomb Gauge and Lorentz Gauge

The coulomb gauge is


2V   0
This is Poisson's equation, and solution is very well-known:

The Lorentz gauge

The virtue of the Lorentz gauge is that it treats V and A on an equal footing: the same
differential operator

(called the d'Alembertian) occurs in both equations:

L 
□2V  t   0
□2 A  L   J
0
4.3 Continuous Charge Distributions
4.3.1 Retarded Potentials

In the static case, the above equation reduced to Poisson's equation.

 c(t  tr )
R
with the familiar solutions d
' r
 r


r
In the nonstatic case, therefore, ',t '
it's not the status of the source right now that matters, but rather its condition at
some earlier time tr (called the retarded time)

For nonstatic sources, the solution become

Time-varying charges and currents generate retarded scalar potential, retarded

vector potential
If you apply the same argument to the fields you'll get entirely the wrong answer:

In calculating the Laplacian of V (r, t), the crucial point to notice is that the integrand
equation depends on r in two places: explicitly, in the denominator and
implicitly, through , in the numerator. Thus


And

Now , and , so

Taking the divergence

But
4.3 Continuous Charge Distributions

 The retarded potential also satisfies the inhomogeneous wave equation.

confirming that the retarded potential equation satisfies the inhomogeneous wave
equation.
(Example 10.2)
An infinite straight wire carries the current that is turned
on abruptly at t = 0.

Find the resulting electric and magnetic fields.

 The retarded vector potential at point P is

For t < s/c, the "news" has not yet reached P, and the potential is zero. For t > s/c, only the
segment

contributes (outside this range tr is negative, so I(tr) = 0); thus

The electric field is

The magnetic field is

4.4 Jefimenko's Equations

Given the retarded potentials

it is, in principle, a straightforward matter to determine the fields:

Putting them together (and using

This is the time-dependent generalization of Coulomb's law, to which it reduces in

the static case.
As for B, the curl of A contains two terms:
Jefimenko's Equations (Retarded E and B fields)

But, , so

Meanwhile, , and hence

This is the time-dependent generalization of the Biot-Savart law, to which it

reduces in the static case.
4.5Lienard-Wiechert Potentials

To calculate the (retarded) potentials, V(r, t) and A(r, t), of a

point charge q that is moving on a specified trajectory

The retarded time is determined implicitly by the equation

the retarded position of the charge; is the vector from

the vector from the

retarded position to the field point r:
 4.5Lienard-Wiechert Potentials

J
v

Lienard-Wiechert potentials for a moving point charge

Example 10.3
Find the potentials of a point charge moving with constant velocity.
 Consider a point charge q that is moving on a specified trajectory

For convenience, let's say the particle passes through the origin at time t = 0, so The retarded
time is determined implicitly by the equation

Or squaring:
 4.5 Lienard-Wiechert Potentials

Solving for tr by the quadratic formula, I find that

To fix the sign, consider the limit v = 0:

In this case the charge is at rest at the origin, and the retarded time should be (t - r / c);
evidently
we want the minus sign.

Therefore,
 10.3.2 The Fields of a Moving Point Charge

Let’s begin with the gradient of

V:
The Fields of a Moving Point Charge

v
The Fields of a Moving Point Charge

v
The Fields of a Moving Point Charge

If the velocity and acceleration are both

zero, E reduces to the old electrostatic
result:

Now, we can say the Lorentz force exerting on a test charge Q by any configuration of a charge
(q):

 The entire theory of classical electrodynamics is contained in that equation.

 The Fields of a Moving Point Charge v

w(t) R

(Example 10.4) Calculate the Electric and magnetic fields of a point charge moving with constant
velocity.

 Because of the sin2 in the denominator, the field of a fast-moving charge is flattened out like a
pancake in the direction perpendicular to the motion.

 In forward and backward directions E is reduced by a factor (I - v2/c2) relative to the field of a charge at
rest; in the perpendicular direction it is enhanced by a factor

 When v2 « c2, they reduce to

 Coulomb's law, Biot-Savart law for a point charge