EM and Relativity

Sayan Datta
June 2018

1 Introduction
We know that Electric fields are created by charges and magnetic fields are created by currents. These electric fields
exert forces on other charges and magnetic fields exert forces on charges (known as Lorentz force) under the condition
that these charges are in motion. Electric force due to some electric field E ~ is given by F~ = q E~ and Lorentz force
due to some magnetic field B ~ is given by F~ = q(~v × B).
~ So, if a charge is at rest the magnetic field B
~ exerts no force
on the charge. The magnetic field exerts a force on the charge only if it is moving.
However we also know that there is nothing called absolute rest or motion. Some object (in this case our charge
which is experiencing electromagnetic force) which is at rest in some frame can be in motion in some other frame
of reference. So the magnetic field exerts a certain force on the charge corresponding to the frame from which the
charge is viewed. That is to say that the value of the Lorentz force on the charge varies according to the frame from
which the charge is viewed.

Consider the above diagram where a charged particle q travels with a velocity ~v along positive x axis and magnetic
field is directed out of the page, i.e the positive z axis. Let there be no electric field. So, E~ = 0 and B ~ = B0 k̂.
In such a case the charge q bends downward as shown. Now consider the sane situation from the point of view of
another observer. Call this frame S 0 moving at a velocity ~v along the positive x axis as shown with its own X 0 , Y 0
and Z 0 axes.

In this frame, S 0 the charged particle q is at rest. In this frame the velocity of the charge q is v 0 = 0. So the
magnetic field exerts no force on the charge. But the charge has been deflected along negative z direction. This fact
is same for both frames S and S 0 . The relative velocity ~v between the frames is along the positive x. This doesn’t
influence the Y direction motion of the charge as viewed from either frame. Therefore as viewed from the primed
~ 0 6= and B
frame the electric field cannot be zero, i.e E ~ 0 6= 0 (i.e even if the magnetic field is present in S 0 it doesn’t
exert any force).
Notice that we haven’t brought any new sources that can generate electric and magnetic fields. All we have done
is to change frames. Therefore what in one frame is a pure magnetic field is a combination of electric and magnetic
fields in some other frame.
Therefore electric fields and magnetic fields are not two different entities, but different aspects of the same entity

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called Electromagnetic Field and it depends on the observer whether he will observe it as an electric or magnetic
field or a combination of both.

2 Length Contraction

S 0 moves along +ive X with respect to S with a velocity ~v as shown. Conversely S moves in -ive X direction with
respect to S 0 . The object shown is at rest in the frame S and moves along -ive X direction with respect to S 0 with
velocity ~v . According to Special Relativity the X component of the dimension of the object is maximum in the frame
in which it is at rest (i.e S) and gets reduced in the frame in which it moves (i.e S 0 ). This is called length contraction.

Let us consider a rod oriented along X axis so that we don’t have to worry about the other dimensions. As the
rod is stationary in the frame S, it’s easy to measure its length. All we have to do is to place a meter stick and
measure the length L = AB. However it’s much more difficult to measure the length of the rod in the frame S 0 .
We have to ensure that the ends A0 and B 0 are measured simultaneously as the rod moves with velocity ~v in frame
§p rime in the -ive x direction. Suppose we are able to device a way by which we are able to find out the length in
the primed frame and calculate it to be L0 = A0 B 0 . The relation between L and L0 is given by
r
0 v2
L = L (1 − 2 )
c
where c is the speed of light (c = 3 × 108 m/s). So L0 is smaller than L. As the relative velocity between frames is
only along X, the Y and Z dimensions do not suffer any length contraction.

3 Time Dilation

Consider two events E1 and E2 in frame S occurring at the same place x but at different times t1 and t2 . My going
to sleep on my bed at night and waking up on the same bed in the morning are two separate events which happen at
the same place but have a certain time duration between them. E1 happens first and E2 happens later. So t1 > t2 .

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 The time interval between the events in S equals to ∆t = t2 −t1 . From the view of S 0 the two events E1 and E2 do
not take place at the same position as this frame travels relative to S.For example, you board a train in the evening,
occupy your berth, go to sleep on your berth at night and you wake up in the morning.These two events from the
frame of reference of the train take place at the same position (i.e your berth); but from the frame of reference of
the platform these events are spatially separated by a few hundred miles!
The time interval in S 0 frame is ∆t0 = t02 − t01 .These two time intervals are related by the equation -

∆t
∆t0 = q
v2
(1 − c2 )

q
2
∆t0 > ∆t as the factor 1 − vc2 is less than 1. This is called time dilation. The time interval ∆t is minimum in
the frame in which the events take place at the same position and is called the proper time of the events. There is
only one proper time interval between two events Any frame travelling relative to the frame in which the events take
place at the same position will yield a time interval greater than the proper time interval simply because in such a
frame the events will occur at different positions.
Also it is not necessary that for every two events there will always be a frame w.r.t which the events will occur
at the same position and that there will be a corresponding proper time interval linking them. For example if all the
clocks of the Indian Railways throughout the country all agree with each other then the two events - a train leaves
Kolkata at 5:14 PM and another leaves Mumbai at exactly the same time, i.e 5:14 PM, on the same day cannot have
a proper time interval connecting them. Therefore there is no frame in which these two events happen at the same
place.

4 The Lorentz Transformations and The Inverse Lorentz Transforma-

tions

The instant at which S 0 crosses S is t = 0 and t0 = 0 for both frames. The space and time coordinates of the two
frames are related to each other by the equations given below -
x − vt
x0 = q
2
1 − vc2

t − vx2
t0 = q c
2
1 − vc2
Conversely
x0 + vt0
x= q
2
1 + vc2
and
t0 + vx0
t= q
2
1 − vc2

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5 The connection to EM

Consider the above charged wire from both the frames S and S 0 . The electric field at a point y away from the wire
in frame S is given by
E~ = λ ĵ
2πo y
And as there is no magnetic field in this frame B ~ = 0. Consider two points a and b on the wire in frame S having
a separation l. The charge in this segment is q = λl. Now viewing the same wire from frame S 0 at some specific
instant of time - we note the positions of both a and b in the primed frame at that specific instant of time. The
total charge between a and b in the primed frame is the same as that in the unprimed frame. However the length is
different in the two frames via Lorentz contraction. This causes the charge density λ0 in S 0 to be different from λ in
S. The length l in the frame S is the rest length of the wire. However in the frame S 0 the wire moves with a velocity
~v along the -ive x axis. Let us call the length l0 in the frame S 0 . The charge density in the primed frame becomes -
q λl
λ0 = 0
= 0
l l
where l0 is the distance between a and b as measured from S 0 .
λl
⇒ λ0 = q
v2
l 1− c2

λ
⇒ λ0 = q
v2
1− c2

So the charge density in the primed frame is more than the charge density in the unprimed frame. Consider a point
y 0 = y away from the wire in the S 0 frame. Let us calculate the electric field and magnetic field at this point.

~0 = λ0
E ĵ
2π0 y 0

~0 = λ
⇒E q
v2
2π0 y 1− c2

~
~0 = q E
⇒E
v2
1− c2

Now coming to the magnetic field - In the primed frame the wire with charge density
λl
λ0 = q
v2
l 1− c2

is travelling at a velocity −v î. This gives rise to a current

λv
I0 = q
v2
1− c2

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in the primed frame and in -ive x direction. As there is a current there must be a magnetic field.We get the expression
for the magnetic field from the formula for the magnetic field due to an infinite current -
0
~ 0 = µ0 I (−k)
⇒B ˆ = µ0 λv ˆ
(−k)
0
q
2πy 2πy 1 − v2
c2

Finally writing all electric and magnetic fields in the two frames -
2
µ0 v0 Ey − v2
Bz0 = − q =q c Ey
2 2
1 − vc2 1 − vc2

Bx0 = 0
By0 = 0
Ex0 = 0
Ez0 = 0
and
E
Ey0 = q
v2
1− c2

This is how fields transform between frames in relative motion If we know the fields in one frame we can always
calculate, with the help of Special Relativity the fields in any other frame in relative motion with the first.