Lorentz Transformations of the Electric and Magnetic Fields According to Minkowski

TL;DR

This paper revisits Minkowski's 1908 formulation of electric and magnetic field transformations, highlighting differences from the usual Lorentz transformations and discussing implications for classical experiments like Trouton-Noble.

Contribution

It clarifies Minkowski's correct tensorial transformations of electromagnetic fields and compares them with the standard transformations used today.

Findings

Minkowski's transformations are consistent with Lorentz transformations for four-vector fields.

Differences between Minkowski's and traditional transformations are identified.

Discussion includes implications for low-velocity limits and classical experiments.

Abstract

The usual transformations (UT) of the 3-vectors E and B that are found by Lorentz, Poincar\'{e} and independently by Einstein in 1905. are generally considered to be the Lorentz transformations (LT) of E and B. According to the UT E in one frame is 'seen' as E' and B' in a relatively moving frame. In Minkowski's last paper, in 1908. in section 11.6, he defined the vectors (with four components) of the electric $\Phi $ and magnetic $\Psi $ fields and discovered that, e.g., $\Phi $ correctly transforms by the LT again to $\Phi ^{\prime}$. His correct LT are reinvented in, e.g., [11] ([11] Ivezi\'{c} T 2005 Found. Phys. Lett. 18 301). In this paper we show the essential similarity and some differences between Minkowski's relations in section 11.6 and the results obtained in [11]. The low-velocity limit of the UT and the LT is briefly examined. A short discussion of the comparison with the Trouton-Noble experiment is presented.