The Wave Equations for Electromagnetic Radiation in an Ionized Medium in a Magnetic Field

Abstract

The inadequacy of the present practice of applying the formulae of magneto-ionic theory to ray trajectories satisfying Snell's law, to represent the conditions of propagation of radio waves in the ionosphere and the solar atmosphere, is explained. To express the differential equations of the electromagnetic field as simply as possible the axes of coordinates are chosen to coincide with the three principal directions of the medium. Wave equations for the components of the electric field intensity and the electric Hertz vector are investigated.       In applying the theory to the propagation of plane waves in a uniform medium, a new fundamental form of the equation for the complex refractive index of the Appleton-Hartree theory is obtained. The three types of electron plasma oscillations possible in such a medium are also discussed. It is suggested that solar " bursts " should decay according to a damping constant of the order of the collision frequency where they originate in the solar atmosphere.