Liénard–Wiechert potential

Liénard-Wiechert potentials describe the classical electromagnetic effect of a moving

electric point charge in terms of a vector potential and a scalar potential. Built directly
from Maxwell's equations, these potentials describe the complete, relativistically correct,
time-varying electromagnetic field for a point charge in arbitrary motion, but are not
corrected for quantum-mechanical effects. Electromagnetic radiation in the form of
waves can be obtained from these potentials.

These expressions were developed in part by Alfred-Marie Liénard in 1898 and

independently by Emil Wiechert in 1900[1] and continued into the early 1900s.

The Liénard-Wiechert potentials can be generalized according to gauge theory.

The explicit expressions for potentials related to moving dipoles and quadrupoles in the
same way as the Liénard-Wiechert potentials are related to a point charge were
computed by Ribarič and Šušteršič in 1995.[2]

Contents
[show]

[edit] Implications

The study of classical electrodynamics was instrumental in Einstein's development of the

theory of relativity. Analysis of the motion and propagation of electromagnetic waves led
to the special relativity description of space and time. The Liénard–Wiechert formulation
is an important launchpad into more complex analysis of relativistic moving particles.

The Liénard–Wiechert description is accurate for a large, independent moving particle,

but breaks down at the quantum level.

Quantum mechanics sets important constraints on the ability of a particle to emit

radiation. The classical formulation, as laboriously described by these equations,
expressly violates experimentally observed phenomena. For example, an electron around
an atom does not emit radiation in the pattern predicted by these classical equations.
Instead, it is governed by quantized principles regarding its energy state. In the later
decades of the twentieth century, quantum electrodynamics helped bring together the
radiative behavior with the quantum constraints.

[edit] Universal Speed Limit

The force on a particle at a given location r and time t depends on the position of the
source particles at an earlier time tr due to the finite speed, c, at which electromagnetic
information travels. For example, a particle on Earth 'sees' a charged particle on the
Moon as it was 1.5 seconds ago and a charged particle on the Sun as it was 500 seconds
ago. This earlier time in which an event happens such that a particle at location r 'sees'
this event at a later time t is called the retarded time, tr. The retarded time varies with
position; for example the retarded time at the Moon is 1.5 seconds before the current time
and the retarded time on the Sun is 500 s before the current time. The retarded time can
be calculated as:

where R is distance of the particle from the source at the retarded time.

[edit] Equations
[edit] Definition of Liénard-Wiechert potentials

The Liénard-Wiechert potentials Φ and A, where Φ is the scalar potential field and A is
the vector potential field, forms a potential representation of the fields of a moving point
charge having a charge q such that (in cgs units):

and

where (Beta) is the charge's velocity divided by c and is the vector position of the
charge. The 'ret' emphasises that we are considering only the retarded solutions.

[edit] Corresponding values of electric and magnetic fields

We can calculate the electric and magnetic fields directly from the potentials using the
definitions;

The calculation is non trivial and requires a number of steps. The equation for the electric
field is (in non-covariant form):
and

where γ is the Lorentz factor and is a unit vector pointing from the retarded position of
the charge to the observer. The magnetic field can be found by taking the curl of this.

[edit] Derivation

[edit] Retarded potential solutions

In the case that there are no boundaries surrounding the sources, the retarded solutions for
the scalar and vector potentials (cgs units) of the nonhomogeneous wave equations are
(see Nonhomogeneous electromagnetic wave equation)

and

where

is a Dirac delta function and the current and charge densities are

for a particle at traveling with velocity .

1 Introduction
These notes fill in some of the steps needed to calculate the fields and instantaneous
power radiated by an accelerated charge. All results are fully relatvistic except when
explicitly stated that the limit is for particle velocity much less than the speed of light.
2 Potentials of a point charge
The potentials in free space with the boundary conditions that the only sources of

radiation are and (i.e. no incoming waves from infinity) in the Lorentz gauge are

( ,t) =

d 3r'dt' (t' - [t - c - 1| - |])

( ,t) = (1)

d 3r'dt' (t' - [t - c - 1| - |]) .

The charge and current densities of a point charge q at position 0(t) are

=
( ,t) q ( - 0(t))
( ,t) = (2)

q ( - 0(t)) q (t) ( - 0(t)) .

It is readily verified that these are the correct expressions. The charge density is zero
everywhere but the position of the point charge and the integral of the charge density is
q . Similarly, the current density is zero everywhere but the position of the point charge,
and the time integral of the current over a surface element through which the charge
passes is zero for times less than the time when the charge passes through the surface,
and q for larger times.

Plugging in the charge and current densities, the integral can be done immediately to
give

( ,t) =

dt' (t' - [t - c - 1| - |])

( ,t) = (3)

q dt' (t' - [t - c - 1| - |]) .

The delta function integral is given in the usual way by changing variables to its
argument in the region of the zeroes of its argument. For example if x0 is the only zero of
f (x) in the range of integration, then

(4)

dx (f (x)) = .
Applying this to the integrals above gives

( ,t) =

( ,t) = (5)

where the retarded time is given by the solution of the equation

tret = t - c - 1| - 0(tret)| . (6)
These are the Liénard-Wiechert potentials.

It simplifies the notation (although the first two hide some of the dependencies) to write

(t) = - 0(t)
= f (tret)
ret
= (7)

so that the potentials can be written

( ,t) = ret
(8)

( ,t) = ret

3 The Fields
The fields can be calculated by taking the derivatives

= x
 = (9)

- - .
so the rest of this section simply describes taking these derivatives carefully using the
chain rule.

Expanding the equation for the retarded time keeping constant gives the differential as

(10)
dtret = dt + [ ]retdtret
or
(11)

= ret
Expanding keeping t,y,z constant gives
(12)

dtret = - ret + tret

or
(13)

=- ret

where X,Y,Z are the components of .

The chain rule gives

ret
ret ret
= (14)
ret

ret - ret ret

where dot is the time derivative with respect to the particle time, and the gradient inside
the brackets is the spatial derivative with the particle time held constant.

Applying this to the time derivative of the vector potential

 (15)

=q ret
and to the gradient of the scalar potential
(16)

=q ret
the electric field is

(17)

=q -
ret ret
To get this into more standard form, write
(18)
[( x - )x ]=( - ) - (1 - )
which shows that the numerator of the second term can be rewritten to give
(19)

=q ret + ret
which agrees with Jackson Eq. 14.14.

The curl of the vector potential is calculated the same way,

x =

-q ret - ret
= (20)

-q ret - ret
and comparing with Eq. 17 the magnetic induction is
=[ x ] ret (21)
which agrees with Jackson Eq. 14.13.

4 Larmor formula
 To find the radiation from the moving particle as a function of its time, look far from the
particle for fields that go like r - 1. These are given by the last term in the field expressions
above. The energy radiated into solid angle d in time interval dt is given by the
Poynting vector at large distances, or

dE =

( x )dtd
= (22)

dtd .

Generally we are not interested in the energy detected by an observer in time interval dt
far from our charge. Rather we are interested in the amount of energy the particle loses to
radiation in a particular direction during a change in the particles time. That is, we want
dE/dtparticle not dE/dt , and since the particle is evaluated at the retarded time, the power
radiated into solid angle d by the particle is then

= (23)

where the extra factor 1 - is dt/dtret calculated above. This is Jackson Eq. 14.38.

The cross product can be expanded to give

(24)
| x [( - )x ]|2 = ( )2(1 + )-( )2 - 2( )2 + 2 -( )2 - ( [ x ])2

Taking the z axis along , the integrations are trivial and the integrals needed to find
the total power radiated are of the form

dx
=

dx
 = (25)

dx
with the results

d 1+ )
=

d
=

d
= (26)

d .

Adding the results together gives

P=

= (27)

and the last expression agrees with Jackson Eq. 14.26.

5 Nonrelativistic Limit
Taking the nonrelativistic limit where 1 , the angular distribution and the total
power radiated are the Larmor results
 =

| x |2
P = (28)

| |2 .

It is considerably easier to derive these results from the potentials by taking their
nonrelativistic limit first and dropping the velocity dependent terms in the derivatives.
Taking the curl will give the magnetic induction. Since derivatives of R will give terms
that go like 1/r 2 etc., they will not contribute to the radiation field. Derivatives of R with
respect to tret will give terms higher order in the velocity, and these can be dropped in the
nonrelativistic limit. The only term that survives is the derivative of the velocity in the
numerator of with respect to tret and the gradient of ctret gives - . The radiation field
for nonrelativistic motion is therefore

(29)

( ,t) - .
With dtret/dt = 1 nonrelativistically, the radiated power per solid angle is
(30)

= | ( ,t)|2 = | x |2
and integrating over solid angle gives the usual Larmor formula.