2

Reading the book called "The great design particles fields and creation" one finds the following paragraph

In a universe like ours, constructed of electrically charged elements, magnetism and the magnetic field can be considered a relativistic consequence of the electric field. If the speed of light were infinite, or if all charges moved very slowly, there would be no magnetic field and no magnetism. But in the universe we live in, where the speed of light is finite and electrical charges do move, magnetic fields accompany electric fields. The other vector fields associated with weak and strong nuclear forces have similar magnetic counterparts that derive from relativistic effects

Questions

  • Does gravity have such a counter part?

  • if not why, if yes what is it called?

  • The book does not explain why such a speed limit produces magnetic fields, can some one explain?

Qmechanic
  • 220,844
Thulashitharan D
  • 595

1 Answers1

1

The physical laws should be stated in a Lorentz invariant way via the tensor formalism. If so, the electromagnetism is described by an electromagnetic four-potential $A^\mu$, a Lorentz covariant four-vector, from which the electromagnetic field can be derived as the electromagnetic tensor $F^{\mu \nu} = \partial^\mu A^\nu - \partial^\nu A^\mu$. The components of the electromagnetic tensor are the electric and magnetic fields which transform into each other in a Lorentz covariant way.

If in a reference frame you have only an electric field, in another reference frame you may experience a magnetic field as well.

To say "... if the speed of light were infinite ...", physically is like to say that the relative speed between different reference frames is infinitesimal, i.e. no relative motion. That is why in the above example you would not experience a magnetic field.

Similar considerations apply to other tensors describing other forces.

Michele Grosso
  • 3,874