Physical Space as a Quaternion Structure, I: Maxwell Equations. A Brief Note

TL;DR

This paper reformulates Maxwell's Equations using Hamilton's Quaternions, revealing a new field component that links thermal, electric, and magnetic phenomena within a unified quaternion-based framework.

Contribution

It introduces a quaternion-based formulation of Maxwell's Equations, uncovering a new field component and proposing a fundamental connection between heat and electromagnetism.

Findings

Reformulation of Maxwell's Equations in quaternion form

Discovery of a new field component related to thermoelectricity

Proposes a unified theory linking thermal, electric, and magnetic phenomena

Abstract

This paper shows how to write Maxwell's Equations in Hamilton's Quaternions. The fact that the quaternion product is non-commuting leads to distinct left and right derivatives which must both be included in the theory. A new field component is then revealed, which reduces part of the degree of freedom found in the gauge, but which can then be used to explain thermoelectricity, suggesting that the theory of heat has just as fundamental a connection to electromagnetism as the magnetic field has to the electric field, for the new theory now links thermal, electric, and magnetic phenomena altogether in one set of elementary equations. This result is based on an initial hypothesis, named ``The Quaternion Axiom,'' that postulates physical space is a quaternion structure.