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Spinnor
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Suppose I want to try and guess the fields of a short laser pulse. We know that fields that satisfy Maxwell's equations minimize the action E^2 - B^2 (say far from charge and current)?
For a plane wave E^2 - B^2 = 0?
Will a general solution of maxwell's equations satisfy E^2 - B^2 = 0
If I have a set of fields (say the approximate solution given by Jackson above) can I be guaranteed that the action for the actual solution will be less then the action for the approximate solution?
Can I consider E^2 the "kinetic" part of the energy and consider B^2 the "potential" part of the energy?
Thanks for any help or suggestions!
For a plane wave E^2 - B^2 = 0?
Will a general solution of maxwell's equations satisfy E^2 - B^2 = 0
If I have a set of fields (say the approximate solution given by Jackson above) can I be guaranteed that the action for the actual solution will be less then the action for the approximate solution?
Can I consider E^2 the "kinetic" part of the energy and consider B^2 the "potential" part of the energy?
Thanks for any help or suggestions!