arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Paul J Cote.
We address the issue of the fallacy of the gauge concept in electromagnetism. The role of groupthink in the perpetuation of this concept in the physics literature is also discussed. Brief, elementary arguments suffice to demonstrate the fallacy. The simplicity of the proofs indicates that the norms of the scientific method have been neglected on this topic.
In an earlier paper we provided an alternative to the standard gauge concept for deriving the classical electromagnetic wave equations. This alternative involves recognition of two previously overlooked basic equations and represents a simplification of the formalism and a clarification of some basic physics that is obscured in the standard method. It also removes inconsistencies inherent in the gauge approach. The present paper relates to the Coulomb gauge and addresses another example of a major inconsistency that derives directly from the gauge concept
The seminal paper on the meaning of the vector potential by E. J. Konopinski is revisited. The full significance of this work has not been generally recognized to date. We first briefly review Konopinski's findings and show that many of his key results can be obtained from a simpler and more familiar approach. We then discuss the additional implications of his analyses, which were overlooked by Konopinski himself.