Electromagnetic wave equation

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The electromagnetic wave equation is a second-order partial differential equation that describes the propagation of electromagnetic waves through a medium or in a vacuum. It is a three-dimensional form of the wave equation. The homogeneous form of the equation, written in terms of either the electric field E or the magnetic field B, takes the form:

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\left(v_{\mathrm {ph} }^{2}\nabla ^{2}-{\frac {\partial ^{2}}{\partial t^{2}}}\right)\mathbf {E} &=\mathbf {0} \\\left(v_{\mathrm {ph} }^{2}\nabla ^{2}-{\frac {\partial ^{2}}{\partial t^{2}}}\right)\mathbf {B} &=\mathbf {0} \end{aligned}}}$$

where

$${\displaystyle v_{\mathrm {ph} }={\frac {1}{\sqrt {\mu \varepsilon }}}}$$

is the speed of light (i.e. phase velocity) in a medium with permeability μ, and permittivity ε, and ∇² is the Laplace operator. In a vacuum, v_ph = c₀ = 299792458 m/s, a fundamental physical constant.^[1] The electromagnetic wave equation derives from Maxwell's equations. In most older literature, B is called the magnetic flux density or magnetic induction. The following equations$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\nabla \cdot \mathbf {E} &=0\\\nabla \cdot \mathbf {B} &=0\end{aligned}}}$$predicate that any electromagnetic wave must be a transverse wave, where the electric field E and the magnetic field B are both perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation.