Electromagnetic interactions derived from potentials: charge and magnetic dipole

TL;DR

This paper explores electromagnetic interactions between point charges and magnetic dipoles using potentials, revealing different interpretations from field-based views and highlighting the role of potentials in understanding these interactions.

Contribution

It presents a detailed analysis of low-velocity electromagnetic interactions via potentials, offering new insights into the interpretation of forces and momentum.

Findings

Lorentz force does not appear explicitly in potential-based analysis

Scalar potential from a moving magnetic dipole resembles that of an electric dipole

Electromagnetic momentum relates to mass-energy equivalence

Abstract

We discuss some elementary examples of interactions (at low velocity) between point charges and magnetic dipoles using potentials, along the lines indicated by Konopinsky, and show that the physical interpretation might look quite different than using fields. In particular Lorentz's force does not appear explicitly, and has different interpretations in different cases. Also, the scalar potential from a moving magnetic dipole appears as the potential from an equivalent electric dipole, and the electromagnetic momentum of the dipole in an electric field is a consequence of the mass-energy relationship.