Related papers: Radiation Forces and the Abraham-Minkowski Problem
Almost a hundred years ago, two different expressions were proposed for the energy--momentum tensor of an electromagnetic wave in a dielectric. Minkowski's tensor predicted an increase in the linear momentum of the wave on entering a…
In a continuum setting, the energy-momentum tensor embodies the relations between conservation of energy, conservation of linear momentum, and conservation of angular momentum. The well-defined total energy and the well-defined total…
Abraham-Minkowski dilemma concerning the momentum of light within dielectric materials has persisted over 100 years[1]-[2] and conflicting experiments were reported until recently[3]-[4]. We perform a reversed Fizeau experiment to test the…
The macroscopic equations of Maxwell combined with a generalized form of the Lorentz law are a complete and consistent set; not only are these five equations fully compatible with the special theory of relativity, they also conform with the…
This memo contains a collection of formulas describing the electromagnetic energy, momentum and spin distribution of an optical field formed in dielectric media separated by a plane interface when an incident monochromatic plane wave is…
The ambiguity of macroscopic description of light pressure on continuous medium originates from the uncertainty of dividing the energy-momentum tensor of electromagnetically excited matter into material and field parts or, equivalently, the…
A transparent linear magneto-dielectric material in free space that is illuminated by a finite quasimonochromatic field is a thermodynamically closed system, definitively, regardless of what field and material subsystems that one defines.…
We derive from first principles the momentum exchange between a photon and a quantum mirror upon reflection, by considering the boundary conditions imposed by the mirror surface on the photon wave equation. We show that the system generally…
In a recent paper [C. Raabe and D.-G. Welsch, Phys. Rev. A 71, 013814 (2005)] an electromagnetic energy-momentum tensor is suggested as an alternative to the Abraham-Minkowski tensor and is applied to calculations of Casimir forces in…
The form of the energy-momentum tensor when a quasimonochromatic field propagates into and through an antireflection-coated, sourceless, transparent, continuous, linear magneto-dielectric medium, initially at rest in the local frame,…
Interconnection of alternative equations of conservation of the momentum related with different interpretations of equations of the electromagnetic field is an essential aspect of the Abraham-Minkowski controversy, which is associated in…
Maxwell's macroscopic equations combined with a generalized form of the Lorentz law of force are a complete and consistent set of equations. Not only are these five equations fully compatible with special relativity, they also conform with…
The momentum of light in dielectric media has been a century-long controversy that continues to attract significant interest. In a linear dielectric medium with refractive index n, the momentum is predicted to be smaller by a factor of n…
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.…
The authors) Whenever light is slowed down, for any cause, two different formulas give its momentum. For dielectrics, the coexistence of those momenta was the heart of the century-old Abraham-Minkowski dilemma, recently resolved. We…
Several problems at the interface between the field-theoretical description of the Casimir effect and experiments on measuring the Casimir force are discussed. One of these problems is connected with the definition of the Casimir free…
By examination of the exerted electromagnetic (EM) force on boundary of an object in a few examples, we look into the compatibility of the stress tensors corresponding to different formulae of the EM force density with special relativity.…
We generalize some results of Ford and Roman constraining the possible behaviors of renormalized expected stress-energy tensors of a free massless scalar field in two dimensional Minkowski spacetime. Ford and Roman showed that the energy…
We consider the forces exerted by a pulse of plane-wave light on a single atom. The leading edge of the pulse exerts a dispersive force on the atom, and this modifies the atomic momentum while the atom is enveloped in the light. The…
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,…