Inhomogeneous electromagnetic wave equation
In electromagnetism and applications, an inhomogeneous electromagnetic wave equation, or nonhomogeneous electromagnetic wave equation, is one of a set of wave equations describing the propagation of electromagnetic waves generated by nonzero source charges and currents. The source terms in the wave equations make the partial differential equations "inhomogeneous", if the source terms are zero the equations reduce to the homogeneous electromagnetic wave equations. The equations follow from Maxwell's equations. Maxwell's equations. For reference, Maxwell's equations are summarized below in SI units and Gaussian units. They govern the electric field E and magnetic field  B due to a source charge density "ρ" and current density J: where "ε" is the vacuum permittivity and "μ" is the vacuum permeability. Throughout, the relation is also used. SI units. E and B fields. Maxwell's equations can directly give inhomogeneous wave equations for the electric field E and magnetic field B. Substituting Gauss' law for electricity into the curl of Faraday's law of induction, and using the curl of the curl identity (The last term in the right side is the vector Laplacian, not Laplacian applied on scalar functions.) gives the wave equation for the electric  field E: Similarly substituting Gauss's law for magnetism into the curl of Ampère's circuital law (with Maxwell's additional time-dependent term), and using the curl of the curl identity, gives the wave equation for the magnetic field B: The left hand sides of each equation correspond to wave motion (the D'Alembert operator acting on the fields), while the right hand sides are the wave sources. The equations imply that EM waves are generated if there are gradients in charge density "ρ", circulations in current density J, time-varying current density, or any mixture these. These forms of  the wave equations are not often used in practice, as the source terms are inconveniently complicated. A simpler formulation more commonly encountered in the literature and used in theory use the electromagnetic potential formulation, presented next. A and "φ" potential fields. Introducing the electric potential "φ" (a scalar potential) and the magnetic potential A (a vector potential) defined from the E and B fields by: The four Maxwell's equations in a vacuum with charge "ρ" and current J sources reduce to two equations, Gauss' law for electricity is: where is the d'Alembert operator, is the four-current, is the  4-gradient, and is the electromagnetic four-potential with the Lorenz gauge condition Curved spacetime. The electromagnetic wave equation is modified in two ways in curved spacetime, the derivative is replaced with the covariant derivative and a new term that depends on the curvature appears (SI units). where is the Ricci curvature tensor. Here the semicolon indicates covariant differentiation. To obtain the equation in cgs units, replace the permeability with 4"π"/"c". The Lorenz gauge condition in curved spacetime is assumed: Solutions to the inhomogeneous electromagnetic wave equation. In the case that there are no boundaries surrounding the sources, the solutions  (cgs units) of the nonhomogeneous wave equations are and where is a Dirac delta function. These solutions are known as the retarded Lorenz gauge potentials. They represent a superposition of spherical light waves traveling outward from the sources of the waves, from the present into the future. There are also advanced solutions (cgs units) and These represent a superposition of spherical waves travelling from the future into the present.