Electrodynamics in geometric algebra

TL;DR

This paper reformulates electrodynamics in vacuum and media using geometric algebra, deriving Maxwell's equations, wave equations, and stress-energy tensors in spatial and space-time algebra frameworks.

Contribution

It introduces a unified geometric algebra approach to describe electrodynamics in media, extending previous formulations to include polarization and bound currents in space-time algebra.

Findings

Maxwell equations expressed in spatial and space-time algebra

Wave equation derived for electromagnetic potentials in media

Stress-energy tensor formulated for electromagnetic fields in media

Abstract

We consider the electrodynamics of electric charges and currents in vacuum and then generalise our results to the description of a dielectric and magnetic material medium : first in spatial algebra (SA) and then in space-time algebra (STA). Introducing a polarisation multivector $\tilde{P} = \boldsymbol{\tilde{p}} -\,\frac{1}{c}\,\boldsymbol{\tilde{M}}$ and an auxiliary electromagnetic field multivector $G = \varepsilon_0\,F + \tilde{P}$, we express the Maxwell equation in the material medium in SA. Introducing a bound current vector $\tilde{J} = J -\,c\,\nabla\cdot\tilde{P}$ in space-time, the Maxwell equation is then expressed in STA. The wave equation in the material medium is obtained by taking the gradient of the Maxwell equation. For a uniform electromagnetic medium consisting of induced electric and magnetic dipoles, the stress-energy momentum vector is written as $\dot{T}\left(\dot{\nabla}\right) = \frac{1}{c}\,J \cdot F = f$ where $f$ is the electromagnetic force density vector in space-time. Finally, the Maxwell equation in the material medium can be written in STA as a wave equation for the potential vector $A$.