A historical study of the evolution of vector potential in classical electromagnetic theory / Um estudo histórico da evolução do conceito de potencial vetor no eletromagnetismo clássico

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2009

RESUMO

Currently the vector potential generally is considered in the classical electromagnetic theory as an artifice for the calculation of the electric and magnetic fields and without a clear physical meaning. However, when it was proposed in the mid-nineteenth century, it used to have a clear physical meaning and played a central role for Faraday, Maxwell and other British physicists. One of the goals of this dissertation is to understand how the meanings attributed to the vector potential changed along years. In order to answer to this question, we developed a historical study analyzing the different interpretations for this concept starting with the works of Faraday on electromagnetic induction, where he introduced the concept of electrotonic state. We analyzed the contributions of William Thomson that inspired strongly Maxwell to suggest different interpretations for the concept in works published along the next two decades until the publication of the Treatise on Electricity and Magnestism in 1873. In the end of the nineteenth century Maxwells interpretations for the vector potential began to be questioned by several physicists. One of the issues involved in this questioning was the reality of the physical quantities. People as Heaviside, Hertz and others defended that electric and magnetic fields, not the vector potential, were quantities endowed with physical reality. With this new approach they developed a new electromagnetic theory closer to the currently accepted. Nevertheless, this process was not linear and uncritically accepted. Throughout the twentieth century papers and books were published defending a physical interpretation for the vector potential considering a classical context for the electromagnetic theory. The historical study developed here focused the developments in Great-Britain although some mentions to Continental physics are made

ASSUNTO(S)

eletromagnetismo potencial vetor história da física james clerk maxwell vector potential electromagnetic theory. history of physics james clerk maxwell título.

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