Past exam of the theoretical physics I course of the University of Cambridge 2019 1 a Solution 2026-10-18
Use Minkowski metric and units with the speed of light equal to one. Thus , and is the spatial projector of a timelike congruence. Keep the medium velocity fixed when varying the electromagnetic four-potential. Since the electromagnetic field tensor is , its variation givesBoth tensors are antisymmetric. Integration by parts, with variations vanishing at the boundary, therefore givesThe Euler-Lagrange field equation is . Renaming the free index and using antisymmetry givesThese are the inhomogeneous Maxwell equations with the bound charge and bound current encoded by the polarization-magnetization tensor.
Past exam of the theoretical physics I course of the University of Cambridge 2019 1 c Solution 2026-10-18
Choose , so that and , with . The definitions of the polarization-magnetization tensor imply and . Separating temporal and spatial indices,The Levi-Civita symbol contraction equals , givingThus is the electric dipole moment per volume, or electric polarization, and is the magnetic dipole moment per volume, or magnetization. The signs are those of dipole interactions in a Lagrangian; the associated fixed-dipole potential energies have the opposite signs. Consistently, the equation in part (a) has componentsso and are the bound charge and bound current.