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Why is this electromagnetic field a wave?

Physics Asked on January 29, 2021

In D.K.Cheng’s Field and wave electromagnetics he states the following:

The phasor electric field intensity for a uniform plane wave propagating in the +$z$-direction is $$mathbf{E}(z)=E_0e^{-jkz} $$
where $E_0$ is a constant, $j$ is the imaginary unit and $k$ is the wavenumber.

My question is, why is this a wave? Isn’t a wave supposed to be time-dependent? I tried finding the real-notation of the field.
$$Re(mathbf{E}(z))=E_0cos(kz) $$

I get that when $z$ changes the electromagnetic field becomes a cosine function, but can the wavelike behavior also be coordinate dependent. I thought it should be time-dependent?

Can someone clarify?

2 Answers

The time dependent factor, $e^{jomega t}$ has been omitted, to save clutter. Readers are supposed to supply it for themselves. The omission is usually made only when dealing with waves with the same $omega$, or with the same wave at different points $z$ in space. In such cases, $e^{jomega t}$ can be factored out of derivations and put in again at the end, if leaving it out causes worry!

Answered by Philip Wood on January 29, 2021

We hid the time dependence when we said we were using a phasor representation of the field.

A phasor is a complex number $A$ representing a time dependent quantity $|A|cos(omega t+angle{A})$, where $omega$ is the previously defined angular frequency at which the instantaneous value of the quantity varies.

Answered by The Photon on January 29, 2021

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