电与磁的相对论统一（英）.pdf

On the relativistic unification of electricity and magnetism 3 ∗ 1 Marco Mamone Capria and Maria-Grazia Manini 0 2 b February 21, 2013 e F 9 1 Abstract The unification of electricity and magnetism achieved by special rela- ] h tivity has remained for decades a model of unification in theoretical physics. We p discuss the relationship between electric and magnetic fields from a classical point - t of view, and then examine how the four main relevant authors (Lorentz, Poincar´e, s i Einstein, Minkowski) dealt with the problem of establishing the transformation h . laws of the fields in different inertial systems. We argue that Poincar´e’s derivation s of the transformation laws for the potentials and the fields was definitely less arbi- c i trary than those of the other cited authors, in contrast with the fact that here, as s y in other instances, Poincar´e’s contribution to relativity was belittled by authori- h tative German physicists in the first two decades. In the course of the historical p [ analysis a number of questions which are of contemporary foundational interest concerning relativistic electromagnetism are examined, with special emphasis on 3 the role of potentials in presentations of electromagnetism, and a number of errors v 6 in the historical and foundational literature are corrected. 2 Keywords classical electromagnetism, special relativity, potentials, history of 1 7 relativity . 1 1 1 Contents 1 : v i