Contribution of electric self-forces to electromagnetic momentum in a moving system

TL;DR

This paper explores how electric self-forces contribute to electromagnetic momentum in moving systems, revealing subtle stress-related effects that resolve longstanding paradoxes and align with relativistic energy-momentum transformations.

Contribution

It demonstrates the role of electric self-forces and stress in electromagnetic fields in accurately accounting for electromagnetic momentum in moving systems.

Findings

Electromagnetic momentum from vector potential aligns with Lorentz-transformed energy.

Stress contributions from electromagnetic fields affect momentum calculations.

Provides insight into the 4/3 electromagnetic momentum paradox.

Abstract

In moving electromagnetic systems, electromagnetic momentum calculated from the vector potential is shown to be proportional to the field energy of the system. The momentum thus obtained is shown actually to be the same as derived from a Lorentz transformation of the rest-frame electromagnetic energy of the system, assuming electromagnetic energy-momentum to be a 4-vector. The energy-momentum densities of electromagnetic fields form, however, components of the electromagnetic stress-energy tensor, and their transformations from rest frame to another frame involve additional contributions from stress terms in the Maxwell stress tensor which do not get represented in the momentum calculated from the vector potential. The genesis of these additional contributions, arising from stress in the electromagnetic fields, can be traced, from a physical perspective, to electric self-forces contributing to the electromagnetic momentum of moving systems that might not always be very obvious. Such subtle contributions to the electromagnetic momentum from stress in electromagnetic fields that could be significant even for non-relativistic motion of the system. Such contributions from stress in electromagnetic fields also provide a natural solution to some curious riddles in electromagnetic momentum like the famous, century-old, enigmatic factor of 4/3, encountered in the electromagnetic momentum of a moving charged sphere.