Can you help me with this equality?

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  • Thread starter Thread starter Abrain
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the equality involving charge density and current density in the context of electromagnetism, specifically examining the relationship between integrals over volume and surface. Participants are seeking clarification on the mathematical expressions and their implications, as well as addressing formatting issues in the post.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant seeks to understand the equality \(\int{\rho}dV = \frac{1}{c} \int{j^0}dV = \frac{1}{c} \int{j^i}dS_i\) and the definitions of the terms involved.
  • Another participant points out potential formatting issues with LaTeX tags in the original post.
  • Concerns are raised about the units of the integrals, with one participant suggesting that the volume \(V\) and surface \(S\) should have consistent units.
  • A participant proposes that the element \(dS\) may have been misinterpreted and should represent the boundary of the volume \(V\).
  • There is a suggestion that the equality might hold due to Gauss's law, although this is not confirmed.
  • Another participant notes that the left-hand side of the equation may require a time derivative to align with the charge continuity equation.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the interpretation of the equality and the definitions of the terms involved. There is no consensus reached regarding the correct interpretation or the implications of the equality.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight potential ambiguities in the definitions of \(dS\) and the units of the integrals, indicating that the discussion may depend on specific interpretations that are not fully resolved.

Abrain
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I'd like to understand why [tex]\int{\rho}dV = \frac{1}{c} \int{j^0}dV = \frac{1}{c} \int{j^i}dS_i[/tex] (the second equality), where

[tex]j^i = \rho \frac{dx^i}{dt}[/tex] is the current density 4-vector

[tex]\mathbf{j} = \rho \mathbf{v}[/tex] is the current density 3-vector

[tex]j^i = (c\rho, \mathbf{j})[/tex]

[tex]\rho[/tex] is the charge density

Are you able to explain me this equality?

Thank you very much!
 
Last edited:
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The tags need to be "tex" or "itex" instead of "latex". You also need to know that there's a bug that makes the wrong images appear in the previews most of the time. The workaround is to refresh and resend after each preview. You can edit your posts for 24 hours, so there's still time to fix the one above.
 
Fredrik said:
The tags need to be "tex" or "itex" instead of "latex". You also need to know that there's a bug that makes the wrong images appear in the previews most of the time. The workaround is to refresh and resend after each preview. You can edit your posts for 24 hours, so there's still time to fix the one above.

It doesn't seem to work neither with [tex]or [itex][/itex][/tex]
 
I think your problem is that you've got the wrong kind of slash in the closing tags, should be /tex not \tex (and don't use capital TEX). Let's see if changing those works:I'd like to understand why [tex]\int{\rho}dV = \frac{1}{c} \int{j^0}dV = \frac{1}{c} \int{j^i}dS_i[/tex] (the second equality), where

[tex]j^i = \rho \frac{dx^i}{dt}[/tex] is the current density 4-vector

[tex]\mathbf{j} = \rho \mathbf{v}[/tex] is the current density 3-vector

[tex]j^i = (c\rho, \mathbf{j})[/tex]

[tex]\rho[/tex] is the charge density

[tex]dS_i[/tex] is the element [tex]-dx-dy-dz+cdt[/tex]

Are you able to explain me this equality?

Thank you very much!
 
JesseM said:
I think your problem is that you've got the wrong kind of slash in the closing tags, should be /tex not \tex (and don't use capital TEX).

Oh thank you! I feel so stupid about this... :-p
 
Abrain said:
[tex]\int{\rho}dV = \frac{1}{c} \int{j^0}dV = \frac{1}{c} \int{j^i}dS_i[/tex]

Your units don't seem to match-up. I take V to be in units of volume. In such case, S should also have units of volume.

Rather instead, I think you have mistakenly taken an element of S to be it's surface normal vector, and S should be the boundary of the volume V. Does this sound close?
 
Phrak said:
Your units don't seem to match-up. I take V to be in units of volume. In such case, S should also have units of volume.

Rather instead, I think you have mistakenly taken an element of S to be it's surface normal vector, and S should be the boundary of the volume V. Does this sound close?

This could be... the book does'n say exactly what dS is.
However [tex]dS = -dx-dy-dz+cdt[/tex] is a 4-volume, isn't it?

But,if you are right, the equality is holding only because of the Gauss law? This sound pretty correct
 
OK, apparently this really is supposed to be the charge continuity equation; the time rate change of charge contained in a volume is equal to the charge entering.

If so, the left hand side needs a d/dt operator and S would be the surface normal vector having units of area pointing inward.
 

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