- #1
aravantv
- 13
- 0
Hi,
I have a hard time finding a justification that electric and magnetic fields are still orthogonal when presented in complex form. As far as I know the notion of orthogonality for complex vectors is not as intuitive as the one for real vectors. Notably, [itex]\vec{x}\cdot\vec{y}=0[/itex] does not imply that [itex]\Re(\vec{x})\cdot\Re(\vec{y})=0[/itex] (the former dot product is a complex one, the latter is a real one).
Similarly, does the cross product relation between the electric field, the magnetic field, and the wave vector still hold?
Cheers,
V.
PS: I'm a novice in electromagnetism and a novice on this forum, please tell me if I did not respect any rule that I would be unaware of.
I have a hard time finding a justification that electric and magnetic fields are still orthogonal when presented in complex form. As far as I know the notion of orthogonality for complex vectors is not as intuitive as the one for real vectors. Notably, [itex]\vec{x}\cdot\vec{y}=0[/itex] does not imply that [itex]\Re(\vec{x})\cdot\Re(\vec{y})=0[/itex] (the former dot product is a complex one, the latter is a real one).
Similarly, does the cross product relation between the electric field, the magnetic field, and the wave vector still hold?
Cheers,
V.
PS: I'm a novice in electromagnetism and a novice on this forum, please tell me if I did not respect any rule that I would be unaware of.