English

Force on slowly moving variable electric or magnetic dipoles in vacuo

Classical Physics 2016-12-07 v1

Abstract

The force on electric and magnetic dipoles moving in vacuo is discussed in the general case of time-variable non-uniform fields and time-variable dipole moments, to first order in v/c and neglecting radiation reaction. Emphasis is given to the symmetry between electric and magnetic dipoles, justifying in general Amp\`ere's equivalence principle, and showing that the difference between gilbertian and amperian dipoles (in vacuo) is only a question of interpretation. The expression for the force can be expressed in a variety of different forms, and each term of each form is susceptible of specific physical interpretations. Terms not described in the literature are pointed out. A possible experiment for verifying the (dual-Lorentz) force of an electric field on a magnetic current (and then "hidden momentum") is proposed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1612.01743,
  title  = {Force on slowly moving variable electric or magnetic dipoles in vacuo},
  author = {G. Asti and R. Coïsson},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1612.01743},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

10 pages, 2 figures