Comparison of Magnetostatics and Electrostatics Gauss’s law no magnetic monopoles! Ampere’s law Boundary conditions: far from all charges far from all currents Magnetic effects are attributable to electric charges in motion
Magnetic Vector Potential The vector potential is not uniquely defined: Both vector potentials produce the same magnetic field One can require that source field
Poisson’s equation for line current for surface current
Example: vector potential of a thin long straight wire For Example: find the vector potential of a uniform magnetic field check using the Einstein notation