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Inevitability of the Lagrangian and gauge potentials

Classical Physics 2018-07-26 v1

Abstract

In seeking a minimal variational formulation of Maxwell's equations, one is led naturally to the scalar and vector potentials as "adjoint" functions in a well-defined sense and to the crucial minus sign that defines the Lagrangian.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1807.09353,
  title  = {Inevitability of the Lagrangian and gauge potentials},
  author = {A. R. P. Rau},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1807.09353},
  year   = {2018}
}

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4 pages