Nonradiating and minimum energy sources and their fields: Generalized source inversion theory and applications

A new general framework for characterizing scalar and electromagnetic (EM) nonradiating (NR) and minimum energy (ME) sources and their fields is devel oped that is of interest for both radiation and source reconstruction probl ems. NR sources are characterized in connection with the concept of recipro city as nonreceptors. Localized ME sources are shown to be free fields trun cated within the source's support. A new source analysis tool is developed that is based on the decomposition of a source and its field into their rad iating and NR components. The individual radiating and reactive energy role s of the radiating and NR parts of a source are characterized. The general theory is illustrated with a time-harmonic EM example.