The Classical Electromagnetic Modes of a Rectangular Resonant Cavity with particular reference to the text Quantum Physics by R. Eisberg and R. Resnick

TL;DR

This paper discusses three methods for deriving the classical electromagnetic modes of a rectangular cavity, highlighting errors in a well-known physics textbook and clarifying the correct approach.

Contribution

It introduces three derivation methods for cavity modes and corrects errors found in a popular physics text by Eisberg and Resnick.

Findings

Identification of errors in the textbook's derivation

Comparison of three different derivation approaches

Clarification of the correct electromagnetic mode solutions

Abstract

Three approaches to the derivation of the classical electromagnetic modes of a rectangular cavity are described. In so doing, some apparent errors in a widely-used physics text are pointed out.