Dresden 2000 – scientific programme

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GR: Gravitation und Relativitätstheorie

GR 2: Felder auf gekrümmten Raumzeiten

GR 2.2: Talk

Monday, March 20, 2000, 17:30–17:50, W B321

Propagation condition in metric-free electrodynamics with linear constitutive law — •Tetsuo Fukui — Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Cologne,
D-50923 Köln, Germany

The Maxwell equations are formulated on an arbitrary (1+3)-dimensional manifold. We assume a linear constitutive relation between the electromagnetic field F and the excitation H which provides a mapping of the 2-form F into the 2-form H. Obukhov and Hehl derived the metric of spacetime by imposing a closure relation on the mapping. In this report, we prove that the closure relation is always sufficient for the electromagnetic waves to propagate without birefringence. As a result, we have a special solution of the no-birefringence condition with an arbitrary factor.