1992/11/14 by William M. Pezzaglia, Pezzaglia, William M.
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Algebraic and Geometric Analysis #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #gr-qc #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.hep-th/9211062
6 pages
arxiv created 1992/11/14 · openalex publication_date 1992/11/14 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
An alternative, pedagogically simpler derivation of the allowed physical wave fronts of a propagating electromagnetic signal is presented using geometric algebra. Maxwell's equations can be expressed in a single multivector equation using 3D Clifford algebra (isomorphic to Pauli algebra spinorial formulation of electromagnetism). Subsequently one can more easily solve for the time evolution of both the electric and magnetic field simultaneously in terms of the fields evaluated only on a 3D hypersurface. The form of the special "characteristic" surfaces for which the time derivative of the fields can be singular are quickly deduced with little effort.