[Physics] Modified Maxwell’s equations

causalityelectromagnetismmagnetic-monopolesquantum-electrodynamicsrenormalization

In 1985, Harmuth wrote that Maxwell's equations are incompatible with causality, and overcame the problem by adding a term for magnetic dipole currents, and as a consequence the problem of infinite zero-point energy and renormalization disappears. At least according to Harmuth's book:

The foreword is readable at Calculus of finite differences in quantum electrodynamics, by Henning F. Harmuth, Beate Meffert. The modified Maxwell equations read (page 3):

$$
\begin{aligned}
\mathrm{curl}\,\boldsymbol H&=\frac{\partial\boldsymbol D}{\partial t}+\boldsymbol g_e\\
-\mathrm{curl}\,\boldsymbol E&=\frac{\partial\boldsymbol B}{\partial t}+\boldsymbol g_m\\
\mathrm{div}\,\boldsymbol D&=\rho_e\\
\mathrm{div}\,\boldsymbol B&=0\quad\text{or}\quad\mathrm{div}\,\boldsymbol B=\rho_m
\end{aligned}
$$

Are Harmuth's modifications generally accepted by the physics community as a more accurate description of reality than the unmodified equations?

Best Answer

For what it's worth, throughout my career as a professor of theoretical physics specializing in high energy physics and the foundations of Lorentz covariant quantum theory, I never heard of Harmuth or his modification of Maxwell's equations until reading this question and the indicated foreword to his book. Now it's hard to keep track of everything going on in science, even within ones specialty. But I think it's safe to say that Harmuth's theory is not accepted by the physics community as an improvement on Maxwell's equations. There have been proposed modifications that have received extensive attention and study, such as Born-Infeld electrodynamics, and ever since the development of the Electro-Weak unified theory our understanding of the status of the EM field has been altered. But no proposals for modifying Maxwell's equations, per se, have been accepted as established improvements.