Linked Questions

52 votes
5 answers
64k views

Derivation of Maxwell's equations from field tensor lagrangian

I've started reading Peskin and Schroeder on my own time, and I'm a bit confused about how to obtain Maxwell's equations from the (source-free) lagrangian density $L = -\frac{1}{4}F_{\mu\nu}F^{\mu\nu}$...
user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
4k views

Retrieving Maxwell's equations from the minimum action principle

I'm currently working at the start of Alexei Tsvelik's book Quantum Field Theory in Condensed Matter Physics. I'm kinda stumped on a few essential steps. Starting with the action: $$S = \int dt \int ...
John M's user avatar
  • 1,062
2 votes
2 answers
2k views

Deriving Euler-Lagrange for Electrodynamics Lagrangian [duplicate]

For $\mathcal L = -\frac14 F_{\mu\nu}F^{\mu\nu}$ I would appreciate some help evaluating $$\frac{\partial \mathcal L}{\partial(\partial_{\mu}A_{\nu})}.$$ I've found $$\frac{\partial \mathcal L}{\...
Dwagg's user avatar
  • 2,022
4 votes
3 answers
694 views

Field equations of a given action [duplicate]

Provided an action: $$S[A_\nu] = \int\left(\frac{1}{4\mu_0}(A_{\gamma,\mu}-A_{\mu,\gamma})(A_{\zeta,\alpha}-A_{\alpha,\zeta})\eta^{\gamma\zeta}\eta^{\mu\alpha}+\frac{1}{2}\nu^2A_\mu A_\gamma -\beta A_\...
dnninja's user avatar
  • 43
1 vote
1 answer
1k views

Variation of electromagnetic action to obtain Maxwell's equations

The electromagnetic action is given in the language of differential forms by $$S[A]=-\frac{1}{4}\int F\wedge \star F$$ The variation of the electromagnetic action $S$ gives us Maxwell's equations $$d\...
nightmarish's user avatar
  • 3,243
1 vote
1 answer
2k views

Euler-Lagrange Equation Proving Maxwell Equation [duplicate]

When quantizing the EM Field, we get the Lagrangian density, $$L=\frac{1}{2}\left(\epsilon \vert E\vert ^2 - \frac{1}{\mu}\vert B\vert^2\right) = \frac{\epsilon}{2}\vert\nabla\phi + \dot{\textbf{A}}\...
HiddenBabel's user avatar
  • 1,951
1 vote
1 answer
662 views

Calculating Lagrangian of electromagnetism [duplicate]

I know that the interaction terms of the Lagrangian of electromagnetism are given by $$L_{int}=-q\phi (\mathbf{x},t)+q\mathbf{v}(t)\cdot \mathbf{A}(\mathbf{x},t).$$ The above equation is replaced by ...
William Huang's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
467 views

Finding the magnetic vector potential by calculus of variations

Given the functional $$F[A]=\int_{\mathbb{R}^3}\{\frac{1}{2\mu(x)}|\nabla\times\vec{A}|^2-\vec{J}\cdot\vec{A}\}d^3x$$ with $\vec{A}$ is a candidate vector potential for the field $\vec{B}=\nabla\times\...
SallyShears's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
308 views

Derivatives with Two Indices in Electromagnetic Lagrangian [duplicate]

I was reading about the derivation of Maxwell's equations from an electromagnetic Lagrangian density from Sean Carroll's Spacetime and Geometry: An Introduction to General Relativity. The Lagrangian ...
rainman's user avatar
  • 3,043
0 votes
0 answers
49 views

Euler-Lagrange Equations for EM Field Theory [duplicate]

Suppose that you have the Lagrangian density for $\phi(\vec{x}, t)$ and $\vec{A}(\vec{x}, t)$ given as follows: $$\mathcal{L} = \frac{\epsilon_{0}}{2} |-\nabla\phi - \partial_{t}\vec{A}|^{2} - \frac{1}...
Aditya Agarwal's user avatar