Spatiotemporal symmetries and energy-momentum conservation in uniform spacetime metamaterials

TL;DR

This paper explores how uniform spacetime metamaterials maintain energy-momentum conservation through continuous spatiotemporal symmetry, providing fundamental insights into their light-matter interaction constraints.

Contribution

It demonstrates, via Noether's theorem, that uniform modulation velocity in spacetime metamaterials leads to energy-momentum conservation, clarifying fundamental theoretical principles.

Findings

Energy-momentum conservation constrains light-matter interactions.

Continuous spatiotemporal symmetry is linked to energy-momentum conservation.

Examples include electromagnetic and modulation pulse collisions.

Abstract

Spacetime metamaterials (ST-MMs) are opening new regimes of light-matter interactions based on the breaking of temporal and spatial symmetries, as well as intriguing concepts associated with synthetic motion. In this work, we investigate the continuous spatiotemporal translation symmetry of ST-MMs with uniform modulation velocity. Using Noether theorem, we demonstrate that such symmetry entails the conservation of the energy-momentum. We highlight how energy-momentum conservation imposes constraints on the range of allowed light-matter interactions within ST-MMs, as illustrated with examples of the collision of electromagnetic and modulation pulses. Furthermore, we discuss the similarities and differences between the conservation of energy-momentum and relativistic effects. We believe that our work provides a step forward in clarifying the fundamental theory underlying ST-MMs.