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Retarded Potential
In electrodynamics, the retarded potentials are the electromagnetic potentials for the electromagnetic field generated by time-varying electric current or charge distributions in the past. The fields propagate at the speed of light ''c'', so the delay of the fields connecting cause and effect at earlier and later times is an important factor: the signal takes a finite time to propagate from a point in the charge or current distribution (the point of cause) to another point in space (where the effect is measured), see figure below. In the Lorenz gauge The starting point is Maxwell's equations in the potential formulation using the Lorenz gauge: : \Box \varphi = \dfrac \,,\quad \Box \mathbf = \mu_0\mathbf where φ(r, ''t'') is the electric potential and A(r, ''t'') is the magnetic vector potential, for an arbitrary source of charge density ρ(r, ''t'') and current density J(r, ''t''), and \Box is the D'Alembert operator. Solving these gives the retarded potentials below ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electrodynamics
In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge via electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. It is the dominant force in the interactions of atoms and molecules. Electromagnetism can be thought of as a combination of electrostatics and magnetism, which are distinct but closely intertwined phenomena. Electromagnetic forces occur between any two charged particles. Electric forces cause an attraction between particles with opposite charges and repulsion between particles with the same charge, while magnetism is an interaction that occurs between charged particles in relative motion. These two forces are described in terms of electromagnetic fields. Macroscopic charged objects are described in terms of Coulomb's law for electricity and Ampère's force law for magnetism; the Lorentz force describes microscopic charged particles. The electromagnetic force is responsible for m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Position Vector
In geometry, a position or position vector, also known as location vector or radius vector, is a Euclidean vector that represents a point ''P'' in space. Its length represents the distance in relation to an arbitrary reference origin ''O'', and its direction represents the angular orientation with respect to given reference axes. Usually denoted x, r, or s, it corresponds to the straight line segment from ''O'' to ''P''. In other words, it is the displacement or translation that maps the origin to ''P'': :\mathbf=\overrightarrow. The term position vector is used mostly in the fields of differential geometry, mechanics and occasionally vector calculus. Frequently this is used in two-dimensional or three-dimensional space, but can be easily generalized to Euclidean spaces and affine spaces of any dimension.Keller, F. J., Gettys, W. E. et al. (1993), p. 28–29. Relative position The relative position of a point ''Q'' with respect to point ''P'' is the Euclidean vector res ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gravitation
In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force between objects and the Earth. This force is dominated by the combined gravitational interactions of particles but also includes effect of the Earth's rotation. Gravity gives weight to physical objects and is essential to understanding the mechanisms responsible for surface water waves and lunar tides. Gravity also has many important biological functions, helping to guide the growth of plants through the process of gravitropism and influencing the circulation of fluids in multicellular organisms. The gravitational attraction between primordial hydrogen and clumps of dark matter in the early universe caused the hydrogen gas to coalesce, eventually condensing and fusing to form stars. At larger scales this results in galaxies and clusters ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wheeler–Feynman Absorber Theory
The Wheeler–Feynman absorber theory (also called the Wheeler–Feynman time-symmetric theory), named after its originators, the physicists Richard Feynman and John Archibald Wheeler, is a theory of electrodynamics based on a relativistic correct extension of action at a distance electron particles. The theory postulates no independent electromagnetic field. Rather, the whole theory is encapsulated by the Lorentz-invariant action S of particle trajectories a^\mu(\tau),\,\, b^\mu(\tau),\,\, \cdots defined as S = -\sum_ m_a c \int \sqrt + \sum_ \frac \int \int \delta(ab_\mu ab^\mu) \, da_\nu db^\nu, where ab_\mu \equiv a_\mu - b_\mu. The absorber theory is invariant under time-reversal transformation, consistent with the lack of any physical basis for microscopic time-reversal symmetry breaking. Another key principle resulting from this interpretation, and somewhat reminiscent of Mach's principle and the work of Hugo Tetrode, is that elementary particles are not self-intera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harmonic Coordinate Condition
The harmonic coordinate condition is one of several coordinate conditions in general relativity, which make it possible to solve the Einstein field equations. A coordinate system is said to satisfy the harmonic coordinate condition if each of the coordinate functions ''x''α (regarded as scalar fields) satisfies d'Alembert's equation. The parallel notion of a harmonic coordinate system in Riemannian geometry is a coordinate system whose coordinate functions satisfy Laplace's equation. Since d'Alembert's equation is the generalization of Laplace's equation to space-time, its solutions are also called "harmonic". Motivation The laws of physics can be expressed in a generally invariant form. In other words, the real world does not care about our coordinate systems. However, for us to be able to solve the equations, we must fix upon a particular coordinate system. A coordinate condition selects one (or a smaller set of) such coordinate system(s). The Cartesian coordinates used in s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linearized Gravity
In the theory of general relativity, linearized gravity is the application of perturbation theory to the metric tensor that describes the geometry of spacetime. As a consequence, linearized gravity is an effective method for modeling the effects of gravity when the gravitational field is weak. The usage of linearized gravity is integral to the study of gravitational waves and weak-field gravitational lensing. Weak-field approximation The Einstein field equation (EFE) describing the geometry of spacetime is given as : R_ - \fracRg_ = \kappa T_ where R_ is the Ricci tensor, R is the Ricci scalar, T_ is the energy–momentum tensor, \kappa = 8 \pi G / c^4 is the Einstein gravitational constant, and g_ is the spacetime metric tensor that represents the solutions of the equation. Although succinct when written out using Einstein notation, hidden within the Ricci tensor and Ricci scalar are exceptionally nonlinear dependencies on the metric tensor that render the prospect of fin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coulomb Gauge
In the physics of gauge theory, gauge theories, gauge fixing (also called choosing a gauge) denotes a mathematical procedure for coping with redundant Degrees of freedom (physics and chemistry), degrees of freedom in field (physics), field variables. By definition, a gauge theory represents each physically distinct configuration of the system as an equivalence class of detailed local field configurations. Any two detailed configurations in the same equivalence class are related by a certain transformation, equivalent to a symmetry transformation, shear along unphysical axes in configuration space. Most of the quantitative physical predictions of a gauge theory can only be obtained under a coherent prescription for suppressing or ignoring these unphysical degrees of freedom. Although the unphysical axes in the space of detailed configurations are a fundamental property of the physical model, there is no special set of directions "perpendicular" to them. Hence there is an enormo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poisson's Equation
Poisson's equation is an elliptic partial differential equation of broad utility in theoretical physics. For example, the solution to Poisson's equation is the potential field caused by a given electric charge or mass density distribution; with the potential field known, one can then calculate the corresponding electrostatic or gravitational (force) field. It is a generalization of Laplace's equation, which is also frequently seen in physics. The equation is named after French mathematician and physicist Siméon Denis Poisson who published it in 1823. Statement of the equation Poisson's equation is \Delta\varphi = f, where \Delta is the Laplace operator, and f and \varphi are real or complex-valued functions on a manifold. Usually, f is given, and \varphi is sought. When the manifold is Euclidean space, the Laplace operator is often denoted as , and so Poisson's equation is frequently written as \nabla^2 \varphi = f. In three-dimensional Cartesian coordinates, it takes the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laplacian
In mathematics, the Laplace operator or Laplacian is a differential operator given by the divergence of the gradient of a scalar function on Euclidean space. It is usually denoted by the symbols \nabla\cdot\nabla, \nabla^2 (where \nabla is the nabla operator), or \Delta. In a Cartesian coordinate system, the Laplacian is given by the sum of second partial derivatives of the function with respect to each independent variable. In other coordinate systems, such as cylindrical and spherical coordinates, the Laplacian also has a useful form. Informally, the Laplacian of a function at a point measures by how much the average value of over small spheres or balls centered at deviates from . The Laplace operator is named after the French mathematician Pierre-Simon de Laplace (1749–1827), who first applied the operator to the study of celestial mechanics: the Laplacian of the gravitational potential due to a given mass density distribution is a constant multiple of that de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnetostatic
Magnetostatics is the study of magnetic fields in systems where the currents are steady (not changing with time). It is the magnetic analogue of electrostatics, where the charges are stationary. The magnetization need not be static; the equations of magnetostatics can be used to predict fast magnetic switching events that occur on time scales of nanoseconds or less. Magnetostatics is even a good approximation when the currents are not static – as long as the currents do not alternate rapidly. Magnetostatics is widely used in applications of micromagnetics such as models of magnetic storage devices as in computer memory. Applications Magnetostatics as a special case of Maxwell's equations Starting from Maxwell's equations and assuming that charges are either fixed or move as a steady current \mathbf, the equations separate into two equations for the electric field (see electrostatics) and two for the magnetic field. The fields are independent of time and each other. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electrostatic
Electrostatics is a branch of physics that studies slow-moving or stationary electric charges. Since classical times, it has been known that some materials, such as amber, attract lightweight particles after rubbing. The Greek word (), meaning 'amber', was thus the root of the word ''electricity''. Electrostatic phenomena arise from the forces that electric charges exert on each other. Such forces are described by Coulomb's law. There are many examples of electrostatic phenomena, from those as simple as the attraction of plastic wrap to one's hand after it is removed from a package, to the apparently spontaneous explosion of grain silos, the damage of electronic components during manufacturing, and photocopier and laser printer operation. The electrostatic model accurately predicts electrical phenomena in "classical" cases where the velocities are low and the system is macroscopic so no quantum effects are involved. It also plays a role in quantum mechanics, where addition ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
