Lorentz contraction of electric field lines for a point charge in uniform motion
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866929756915630080 |
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| author | Žugec, Petar Horvatić, Davor Smolić, Ivica |
| author_facet | Žugec, Petar Horvatić, Davor Smolić, Ivica |
| contents | We examine a logical foundation of depicting a Lorentz contraction of a Coulomb field (an electric field of a point charge in uniform motion) by means of the 'Lorentz contracted' field lines. Two existing arguments for a contraction of field lines sound appealing and lead to very simple calculations yielding the correct results. However, one of them is a victim to subtle logical weaknesses, as it relies on ascribing a degree of physical reality to the electric field lines. The other one correctly proves what it sets out to prove. But it does not provide a proof, or even a suggestion, of an additional result that can be obtained by a new poof that we present here. Though our idea is very simple, the calculations used to prove it - based on a little known, half a century old result by Tsien - are somewhat more involved than those from past arguments. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_03221 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Lorentz contraction of electric field lines for a point charge in uniform motion Žugec, Petar Horvatić, Davor Smolić, Ivica General Physics We examine a logical foundation of depicting a Lorentz contraction of a Coulomb field (an electric field of a point charge in uniform motion) by means of the 'Lorentz contracted' field lines. Two existing arguments for a contraction of field lines sound appealing and lead to very simple calculations yielding the correct results. However, one of them is a victim to subtle logical weaknesses, as it relies on ascribing a degree of physical reality to the electric field lines. The other one correctly proves what it sets out to prove. But it does not provide a proof, or even a suggestion, of an additional result that can be obtained by a new poof that we present here. Though our idea is very simple, the calculations used to prove it - based on a little known, half a century old result by Tsien - are somewhat more involved than those from past arguments. |
| title | Lorentz contraction of electric field lines for a point charge in uniform motion |
| topic | General Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.03221 |