Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-2-paper-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015-resit/2/solution

Let and use bold for the magnetic flux density, to distinguish it from the scalar amplitude in . For a plane electromagnetic wave travelling along , Faraday's law gives the wave-associated field
Hence
For an explicit component check, , while differentiating the displayed field gives equal to that vector. The field is transverse and also satisfies .
In vacuum, Ampère-Maxwell equation compatibility requires , so each factor is . More generally it is the inverse phase velocity on a suitable homogeneous-medium plane-wave branch. A time-independent background field could be added without changing the electric wave's Faraday equation; the requested propagating-wave field takes that independent background to be zero. Finally, confirms the propagation direction and the relative signs.

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