The unification of the Lorentz and Coulomb gauges of electromagnetic theory

Author

Drury, David M.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Software Eng., Wisconsin Univ., Platteville, WI, USA

Volume

43

Issue

1

fYear

2000

fDate

2/1/2000 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

69

Lastpage

72

Abstract

The Lorentz and Coulomb gauges of electromagnetic field theory are shown to be special cases of the same gauge, denoted in this paper as the velocity gauge since it specifies the divergence of the vector potential in terms of the velocity of propagation of the scalar potential. This velocity is the speed of light for the Lorentz gauge and infinite for the Coulomb gauge. With the velocity gauge, the selection of a gauge can be explained in physical terms-the specification of the velocity of propagation of the scalar potential-which engineering students might find more intuitive than a suspiciously arbitrary choice made for mathematical convenience

Keywords

electrical engineering education; electromagnetic field theory; Coulomb gauge; Lorentz gauge; electromagnetic field theory; engineering students; scalar potential propagation; vector potential divergence; velocity gauge; Current density; Electromagnetic field theory; Electromagnetic propagation; Engineering students; Magnetic flux density; Maxwell equations; Optical propagation; Partial differential equations; Software packages; Space charge;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Education, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9359

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/13.825743

Filename

825743