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Diagram of the electric field of a light wave (blue), linear-polarized along a plane (purple line), and consisting of two orthogonal, in-phase components (red and green waves) In electrodynamics , linear polarization or plane polarization of electromagnetic radiation is a confinement of the electric field vector or magnetic field vector to a ...
If the matter field is taken so as to describe the interaction of electromagnetic fields with the Dirac electron given by the four-component Dirac spinor field ψ, the current and charge densities have form: [2] = † = †, where α are the first three Dirac matrices. Using this, we can re-write Maxwell's equations as:
Electromagnetic waves (such as light), traveling in free space or another homogeneous isotropic non-attenuating medium, are properly described as transverse waves, meaning that a plane wave's electric field vector E and magnetic field H are each in some direction perpendicular to (or "transverse" to) the direction of wave propagation; E and H ...
Maxwell's equations may be combined to demonstrate how fluctuations in electromagnetic fields (waves) propagate at a constant speed in vacuum, c (299 792 458 m/s [2]). Known as electromagnetic radiation, these waves occur at various wavelengths to produce a spectrum of radiation from radio waves to gamma rays.
A linearly polarized electromagnetic plane wave propagating parallel to the z-axis is a possible solution for the electromagnetic wave equations in free space. The electric field , E , and the magnetic field , B , are perpendicular to each other and the direction of propagation.
The density of the linear momentum of the electromagnetic field is S/c 2 where S is the magnitude of the Poynting vector and c is the speed of light in free space. The radiation pressure exerted by an electromagnetic wave on the surface of a target is given by P r a d = S c . {\displaystyle P_{\mathrm {rad} }={\frac {\langle S\rangle }{\mathrm ...
The electromagnetic wave equation is a second-order partial differential equation that describes the propagation of electromagnetic waves through a medium or in a vacuum. It is a three-dimensional form of the wave equation. The homogeneous form of the equation, written in terms of either the electric field E or the magnetic field B, takes the form:
The wave equation is a second-order linear partial differential equation for the description of waves or standing wave fields such as mechanical waves (e.g. water waves, sound waves and seismic waves) or electromagnetic waves (including light waves). It arises in fields like acoustics, electromagnetism, and fluid dynamics.