Electric and magnetic fields as explicitly observer dependent four-dimensional vectors and their Lorentz transformations according to Minkowski-Ivezi\'c

TL;DR

This paper presents a geometric, observer-independent formulation of electric and magnetic fields as 4D vectors in spacetime, demonstrating correct Lorentz transformations and aligning with experimental results.

Contribution

It introduces a 4D geometric approach to electromagnetism, defining electric and magnetic fields as proper vectors and deriving their Lorentz transformations without mixing.

Findings

Electric and magnetic fields are properly defined as 4D vectors.

Lorentz transformations of these fields do not mix electric and magnetic components.

The approach aligns with experimental observations in electromagnetism.

Abstract

In this paper a geometric approach to the special relativity (SR) is used that is called the "invariant special relativity" (ISR). In the ISR it is considered that in the four-dimensional (4D) spacetime physical laws are geometric, coordinate-free relationships between the 4D geometric, coordinate-free quantities. It is mathematicaly proved that in the ISR the electric and magnetic fields are properly defined vectors on the 4D spacetime. According to the first proof the dimension of a vector field is mathematicaly determined by the dimension of its domain. Since the electric and magnetic fields are defined on the 4D spacetime they are properly defined 4D vectors, the 4D geometric quantities (GQs). As shown in an axiomatic geometric formulation of electromagnetism with only one axiom, the field equation for the bivector field F [33], [T. Ivezi\'c, Found. Phys. Lett. 18, 401 (2005), arXiv: physics/0412167], the primary quantity for the whole electromagnetism is the bivector field F. The electric and magnetic fields 4D vectors E and B are determined in a mathematically correct way in terms of F and the 4D velocity vector v of the observer who measures E and B fields. Furthermore, the proofs are presented that under the mathematicaly correct Lorentz transformations, which are first derived by Minkowski and reinvented and generalized in terms of 4D GQs, e.g., in [23], [T. Ivezi\'c, Phys. Scr. 82, 055007 (2010)], the electric field 4D vector transforms as any other 4D vector transforms, i.e., again to the electric field 4D vector; there is no mixing with the magnetic field 4D vector B, as in the usual transformations (UT) of the 3D fields. This formulation with the 4D GQs is in a true agreement with experiments in electromagnetism, e.g., the motional emf.