Electromagnetic momentum balance equation and the force density in material media

Division of the momentum of electromagnetic waves in linear media into electromagnetic and material parts.

It is proposed a natural and consistent division of the momentum of electromagnetic waves in linear, non-dispersive and non-absorptive dielectric and magnetic media into material and electromagnetic parts. The material part is calculated using directly the Lorentz force law and the electromagnetic momentum density has the form epsilon(0)E x B, without an explicit dependence on the properties of...

Electromagnetic energy and momentum in moving media

The problem of the electromagnetic energy-momentum tensor is among the oldest and the most controversial in macroscopic electrodynamics. In the center of the issue is a dispute about the Minkowski and the Abraham tensors for moving media. An overview of the current situation is presented. After putting the discussion into a general Lagrange-Noether framework, the Minkowski tensor is recovered a...

Electromagnetic energy-momentum tensors in media

It is pointed out that the previous energy-momentum tensors of Minkowski and Abraham for the electromagnetic field in continuous media are based on a covariant formulation which does not reflect a symmetry inherent to the system. Instead, taking into account the intrinsic invariance under Lorentz transformations involving the reduced speed of light in such a medium, a compact and fully consiste...

Linear momentum density in quasistatic electromagnetic systems

We discuss a couple of simple quasistatic electromagnetic systems in which the density of electromagnetic linear momentum can be easily computed. The examples are also used to illustrate how the total electromagnetic linear momentum, which may also be calculated by using the vector potential, can be understood as a consequence of the violation of the action–reaction principle, because a non-nul...

Momentum balance equation for ion mediated transport.