English

A simple derivation of the electromagnetic field of an arbitrarily moving charge

Classical Physics 2009-05-08 v1 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

The expression for the electromagnetic field of a charge moving along an arbitrary trajectory is obtained in a direct, elegant, and Lorentz invariant manner without resorting to more complicated procedures such as differentiation of the Lienard-Wiechert potentials. The derivation uses arguments based on Lorentz invariance and a physically transparent expression originally due to J.J.Thomson for the field of a charge that experiences an impulsive acceleration.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0810.4246,
  title  = {A simple derivation of the electromagnetic field of an arbitrarily moving charge},
  author = {Hamsa Padmanabhan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0810.4246},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

The following article has been accepted by the American Journal of Physics. After it is published, it will be found at http://scitation.aip.org/ajp; 12 pages, 1 figure