In physics, Birkhoff's theorem in electromagnetism, attributed to George D. Birkhoff, concerns spherically symmetric solutions of the source-free Maxwell equations and states that any such solution must be static. Pappas gave two independent proofs of the result in 1984, one directly from Maxwell's equations and one using Lie derivatives, and the theorem is understood as the flat-spacetime, no-backreaction limiting case of the better-known Birkhoff's theorem of general relativity.
Facts
StatementAny spherically symmetric solution of the source-free Maxwell equations is necessarily static. 1 Classification
Statement FormCharacterization Theorem 1 Connections
Has Statement Form
Entity-backed identity for the statement-form enum value this theorem already carries, resolved to a mathematics concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The statement-form fact itself stays on the theorem unchanged.
Sources
1. Birkhoff's theorem (electromagnetism) (Wikipedia)
Introduction
any spherically symmetric solution of the source-free Maxwell equations is necessarily static
History
Pappas (1984) is cited as providing two proofs of the theorem
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