New Theory of Radiative Energy Transfer in Free Electromagnetic Fields.

摘要

Despite the facts that the classical theory of the electromagnetic field originated more than a century ago and that almost half a century has gone by since the theory of the quantized electromagnetic field was formulated, radiative energy transfer by electromagnetic radiation is generally treated on the basis of a phenomenological theory that bears no apparent relationship to either of them. This is a rather unsatisfactory situation, since radiative energy transfer plays a central role in several fields, notably in radiometry, in the theory of heat radiation, and in astrophysics. The present paper formulates a new theory of energy transfer in free electromagnetic fields that is rigorous both within the framework of the stochastic theory of the classical field and within the framework of the theory of the quantized field.