It is known that classical electrodynamics is time reversal invariant if one assumes that the transformation laws under such operation are E(t,x)↦E(−t,x)
B(t,x)↦−B(−t,x)
ρ(t,x)↦ρ(−t,x)
J(t,x)↦−J(−t,x)
How are these transformations related to the time reversal T of the full Lorentz group O(1,3)? Here I would like to assume matrix notation for simplicity, so that T=[−1000010000100001]
which is the Jacobian of the transformation
(t,x)↦(−t,x). If you think of the 4-current as a 1-form
J over space-time, and you assume this transformation, that is, time reversal, to be passive, i.e. just a change of coordinates, then
(ρ,−J)↦(−ρ,−J),
from which one actually deduces
ρ(t,x)↦−ρ(−t,x) and
J(t,x)↦J(−t,x). One has a similar situation when transforming the electromagnetic tensor
F with
T, which then gives
E↦−E and
B↦B, but on the other hand the constitutive tensor
⋆F gives the expected transformation laws for the fields, namely the ones given above. Is this just a mere coincidence?
The problem here arises because the 4-current in the OP is assumed to be a 1-form, and after many years of accumulated rust on the subject I completely forgot that this is, strictly speaking, not the right geometrical object that can describe current density. Indeed, being a density, it must be a 3-form, and therefore the correct geometrical object is J=ρ dx∧dy∧dz+dt∧(J⋅⋆dx)
where
⋆dx is the Hodge dual in
R3 of the formal vector
(dx,dy,dz). This object has now the correct transformation law under time reversal, since
dt↦−dt and
dx↦dx, and therefore
J↦ρ dx∧dy∧dz−dt∧(J⋅⋆dx).
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