The electromagnetic potentials

This chapter expresses the fields E ( r, t) and B ( r, t) in terms of the electromagnetic potentials Ф( r, t) and A ( r, t), and shows that these potentials are defined only up to a gauge transformation. This leads the reader naturally to the Coulomb and Lorenz gauges which are usually encountered in textbooks. The inhomogeneous wave equations whose solutions are the retarded electromagnetic potentials are also considered, as well as the Lienard–Wiechert potentials for an arbitrarily moving point charge. A few questions are included in which the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian of a point charge are expressed in terms of Ф and A. The chapter concludes by deriving a multipole expansion for the dynamic vector potential which will provide the starting point in our treatment of electromagnetic radiation later on in Chapter 11