Deriving Magnostatics equations from steady currents

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around deriving the magnetostatics equations from Maxwell's equations, specifically exploring the implications of steady currents on the conditions for magnetostatics. Participants are examining the relationship between steady currents and the static nature of electric and magnetic fields.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that by setting the time derivatives of electric and magnetic fields to zero in Maxwell's equations, one can derive the magnetostatics equations, questioning if this can be achieved by assuming steady currents.
  • Another participant mentions the Jefimenko equations as a way to solve Maxwell's equations for given sources, indicating that for stationary sources, the time derivatives of charge density and current density are zero.
  • A further contribution highlights that evaluating retarded potentials is simpler for static sources since the sources remain constant over retarded time.
  • One participant notes that while the formula for magnetostatics is easy to derive, applying it to real cases presents challenges.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express varying levels of understanding and approaches to the derivation, with no consensus reached on the implications of steady currents leading to magnetostatics or the ease of applying the derived equations to real-world scenarios.

Contextual Notes

There are unresolved aspects regarding the assumptions made about steady currents and their implications for static conditions, as well as the historical context of the equations mentioned.

FG_313
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I've always heard that maxwell's equations contains essentially all of eletromagnetic theory. However, there's one thing I'm having trouble doing for myself: deriving the magnestatics equations from the maxwell's equations. Of course: it's clear that if you put ∂[t]E=∂[t]B=0 (partial derivative in relation to time), you get the magnostatic equations. What I'm wondering is: can we get that ∂[t]E=∂[t]B=0 by assuming steady currents (∂[t]ρ=0) and using the maxwell's equations? The motivation for this question is that the condition for being in magnostatics is steady currents, so the Maxwell's equations should reflect:
(Steady currents)⇒(Magnostatics equations). I believe I've proved the other direction of the implication, but not the one above, that is the most interesting for me: it would mean that, given the maxwell's equation, we can never have non-static situations coming from a "static" current distribution. Please contribute.
 
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Well, you can solve the Maxwell equations for given sources ##(\rho,\vec{j})##, in terms of the socalled Jefimenko equations (althought I never understood why these equations are named after Jefimenko, because they are known much longer in terms of the retarded potentials, to my knowledge first written down by Ludvig Lorenz in the 1860ies, but that's a minor historical detail)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefimenko's_equations

Now consider stationary sources ##\partial_t \rho=0##, ##\partial_t \vec{j}=0## and see what you get!
 
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Supporting the comments by @vanhees71 the retarded potentials are particularly easy to evaluate for static sources since the sources are the same at every retarded time, so you don't actually need to calculate the correct retarded time.
 

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