A zero-curvature representation of electromagnetism and the conservation of electric charge

Abstract

We show that the laws of electromagnetism in $(D+1)$-dimensional Minkowski space-time $\mathcal{M}$, explicitly for $D=1$, $2$ and $3$, can be obtained from an integral representation of the zero-curvature equation in the corresponding loop space $\mathcal{L}^{(D-1)}(\mathcal{M})$. The conservation of the electric charge can be seen as the result of a hidden symmetry in this representation of the dynamical equations.