Published November 1, 2007
| public
Journal Article
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Retarded potentials and the radiative arrow of time
- Creators
- Boozer, A. D.
Abstract
Maxwell's equations admit both retarded and advanced solutions, but only the retarded solutions seem to characterize the radiative phenomena that actually occur in nature. The reason for this, however, is not usually explained in electrodynamics textbooks. We justify the use of the retarded solutions by considering a simple toy model, which allows us to avoid the technical complexities of electrodynamics and focus on the physical concepts. In addition, we explain how the use of the retarded solutions is related to a number of fundamental issues in physics, such as time-reversal invariance and the radiative arrow of time.
Additional Information
Copyright © Institute of Physics and IOP Publishing Limited 2007. Received 3 July 2007, in final form 14 August 2007. Published 28 September 2007. Print publication: Issue 6 (November 2007).Files
BOOepj07c.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 8993
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:BOOejp07c
- Created
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2007-10-11Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-08Created from EPrint's last_modified field