Free space strange and unipolar EM pulses: yes or no?

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that the time-integrated electric field strength is zero for a broad class of finite-energy free space EM pulses, impacting their classification and applications in physics.

Contribution

It proves that the integral of the electric field over time is zero for many free space pulses, providing a new criterion for pulse classification.

Findings

The integral of electric field over time is zero for many finite-energy free space pulses.

This property can serve as a benchmark in electromagnetic and quantum electrodynamics calculations.

The result has implications for the classification of unipolar and bipolar EM pulses.

Abstract

E.G. Bessonov suggested the time integrated strength of electric field $\int_{-\infty}^{\infty}E(r,t)dt=S_E(r)$ as a parameter to classify electromagnetic (EM) waves. Since then, this parameter has been studied and used in many works on microwave and laser physics, especially when it comes to unipolar, bipolar and few cycle EM pulses. In this paper, it is shown that $S_E(r)=0$ is an identity for a wide class of free space pulses of finite total energy. This property can be useful in various applications of few cycle radiation and as a benchmark in EM and QED computations.