Complex symmetries of electrodynamics

Abstract

We prove that a set of nonsingular free solutions of Maxwell's equations forms a representation of the group obtained by analytic continuation of the Poincaré group to complex values of the group parameters, and that a set of singular solutions forms a representation of the group obtained by analytic continuation of the conformal group to complex values of the group parameters. These results are obtained by constructing a theory governing 2 × 2 complex matrix fields defined for complex values of position and time; the equations of this theory are invarient with respect to complex Poincaré transformations and complex conformal transformations, but the set of nonsingular solutions is in one-to-one correspondence with a set of nonsingular solutions of Maxwell's equations, and a similar correspondence exists for the singular solutions. Certain collections of solutions of Maxwell's equations for the field of a current form representations of these complex groups if both magnetic and electric currents are permitted, in which case complex transformations provide a natural connection between electric and magnetic charge. A class of complex transformations also yield natural relations between sources moving slower than light and sources moving faster than light.