Can the Abraham Light Momentum and Energy in a Medium Constitute a Lorentz Four-Vector?

Abstract

By analyzing the Einstein-box thought experiment with the principle of relativity, it is shown that Abraham's light momentum and energy in a medium cannot constitute a Lorentz four-vector, and they consequentially break global momentum and energy conservation laws. In contrast, Minkowski's momentum and energy always constitute a Lorentz four-vector no matter whether in a medium or in vacuum, and the Minkowski's momentum is the unique correct light momentum. A momentum-associated photon mass in a medium is exposed, which explains why only the Abraham's momentum is derived in the traditional "center-of-mass-energy" approach. The EM boundary-condition matching approach, combined with Einstein light-quantum hypothesis, is proposed to analyze this thought experiment, and it is found for the first time that only from Maxwell equations without resort to the relativity, the correctness of light momentum definitions cannot be identified. Optical pulling effect is studied as well.

arXiv comment10 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (8)

• Momentum of an electromagnetic wave in dielectric media
• Radiation pressure and the linear momentum of the electromagnetic field
• Observation of a push force on the end face of a nm fiber taper exerted by outgoing light
• Resolution of the Abraham-Minkowski Controversy
• Transverse radiation force in a tailored optical fiber
• Relativistic analysis of the dielectric Einstein box: Abraham, Minkowski and total energy-momentum tensors
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• Nature of Electric and Magnetic Dipoles Gleaned from the Poynting Theorem and the Lorentz Force Law of Classical Electrodynamics

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• Fantastic quasi-photon and the symmetries of Maxwell electromagnetic theory, momentum-energy conservation law, and Fermat's principle