From Electromagnetic Duality to Extended Electrodynamics

Abstract

This paper presents the transition from Classical Electrodynamics (CED) to Extended Electrodynamics (EED) from the electromagnetic duality point of view, and emphasizes the role of the canonical complex structure in ${\cal R}^2$ in, both, nonrelativistic and relativistic formulations of CED and EED. We begin with summarizing the motivations for passing to EED, as well as we motivate and outline the way to be followed in pursuing the right extension of Maxwell equations. Further we give the nonrelativistic and relativistic approaches to the extension and give explicitly the new equations as well as some properties of the nonlinear vacuum solutions.