Electromagnetic Field and Wave Propagation in Gravitation.
Abstract
From the physical 3-vector Maxwell equations for an electromagnetic (EM) field in static gravitation, one examines the artifice of replacing the gravitation by an equivalent medium and one finds modified Debye potentials for an EM wave in a simple, angularly homogeneous, material medium in a Schwarzschild gravity. The fact that these potentials do not obey the generalized scalar wave equation implies that gravitation scatters the vector EM wave and a scalar wave differently. Also, one obtains and solve by perturbation the amplitude and eikonal equations for a high frequency wave in a weak spherical gravitational field. To the order M/r, the state of transverse polarization does not change along a ray path whereas the transverse field amplitudes are modified by the factor exp(M/r) which strengthens the field near the mass. The longitudinal field amplitude, on the other hand, is modified by exp(-M/r). These effects, in principle, may provide a further test of classical EM theory and general relativity. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1971
- Accession Number
- AD0718145
Entities
People
- Charles H. Papas
- Tse Chin Mo
Organizations
- California Institute of Technology