Maxwell’s Equations in Terms of Potentials Gauss’s law no magnetic monopoles! Faraday’s law Ampere’s law with Maxwell’s correction We can surely write: Satisfy the homogenous Maxwell’s equations
At this point, we reduced the system of unknowns from 6 to 4 At this point, we reduced the system of unknowns from 6 to 4. Can we simplify even more? and we require that both sets of potentials yield the same fields… can be absorbed in l This Gauge transformation does not affect physical fields! We can choose l as we wish. The actual gauge depends on the problem at hand.
The Coulomb Gauge The Lorentz Gauge The scalar potential is given by the instantaneous charge density! A wave equation with complicated source term The Lorentz Gauge
The Temporal Gauge