Retarded Potential
In electrodynamics, the retarded potentials are the electromagnetic potentials for the electromagnetic field generated by time-varying electric current or charge distributions in the past. The fields propagate at the speed of light c, so the delay of the fields connecting cause and effect at earlier and later times is an important factor: the signal takes a finite time to propagate from a point in the charge or current distribution (the point of cause) to another point in space (where the effect is measured), see figure below.
Read more about Retarded Potential: Potentials in The Lorenz Gauge, Potentials in The Coulomb Gauge, Occurrence and Application
Famous quotes containing the words retarded and/or potential:
“Scholastic learning and polemical divinity retarded the growth of all true knowledge.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“Children are potentially free and their life directly embodies nothing save potential freedom. Consequently they are not things and cannot be the property either of their parents or others.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)