Helmholtz theorem and the \(v\)-gauge in the problem of superluminal and instantaneous signals in classical electrodynamics (Q2505667)

The authors' claim that instantaneous propagation of signals is possible in classical electrodynamics does not hold. To see this their approach is closer examined in the sequel. By Helmholtz's theorem, a vector field that vanishes at spatial infinity can be written uniquely as a sum of an irrotational field and a solenoidal field. By such a decomposition a vector equation will, in general, give rise to two equations. In particular, for the electric field intensity we have the decomposition \(E=E_{\text{irr}}+E_{\text{sol}}\), while the magnetic induction \(B\) is already solenoidal. The decomposition of Maxwell's equations supplemented by the constitutive equations \(D=\varepsilon E\), \(H=\mu^{-1}B\), where \(\varepsilon\) and \(\mu\) are constants, is given in the paper. For the magnetic field of course the customary wave equation involving the velocity \(c=1/\sqrt{\varepsilon\mu}\) is obtained. To examine the propagation of the electric field, consider a bounded spatial region \(\Omega\) such that for all \(t\) the charge density \(\rho(x,t)\) and the current density \(j(x,t)\) are zero in \(\complement\Omega\). Let \(\partial \rho/\partial t=0\) and \(j=0\) for \(t\geq 0\), and assume, moreover, that the fields \(\partial\rho/\partial t\) and \(j\) do not vanish identically in \(\Omega\) for \(t>0\). Obviously, for \(t\leq 0\) we then have a static Coulomb field \(E_0(x)\) and zero magnetic field. Consider now a point \(x\) in \(\complement\Omega\). The wave equation for \(B\) implies propagation with a velocity not exceeding \(c\) and thus \(B(x,t)\) remains zero for \(t\leq R/c\), where \(R\) is the distance from \(x\) to \(\partial\Omega\). It follows from the Ampère-Maxwell law that, as long as the magnetic field is zero, the electric field is constant in time, i.e., the static field \(E_0(x)\) persists. In other words, there is no change in the electric field until the magnetic field arrives, and therefore the velocity \(c\) applies to both fields. Thus, the instantaneousness of the partial field \(E_{\text{irr}}\), which indeed follows from the fact that \(E_{\text{irr}}\) satisfies a Poisson equation, is cancelled by that of \(E_{\text{sol}}\). There is no instantaneous propagation of the physical field \(E\). The authors also consider electromagnetic potentials \((A,\varphi)\) subject to the so-called \(v\)-gauge condition \(\nabla A+\alpha\varepsilon\mu\partial\varphi/ \partial t=0\), where a is a positive constant. The Helmholtz theorem is applied to the vector potential, and by choosing \(\alpha<1\) one can make \(A_{\text{irr}}\) propagate at a velocity exceeding \(c\). To such a purely formal result the authors cannot, of course, give any physical interpretation.