Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The electromagnetic vacuum stress tensor in a system consisting of classical point-like atoms on a cubic lattice is derived directly from the electric field and, alternatively, using the known more phenomenological formula involving the (usually unknown) derivative of the dielectric tensor. The results agree. The stress tensor contains a nontrivial constant and therefore cannot be obtained from macroscopic electrodynamics alone. A system consisting of a mosaic of randomly oriented grains of a cubic crystal is used as a model of an amorphous solid. The electromagnetic stress tensor in this system is deduced by averaging the corresponding quantity in a cubic crystal over all orientations. Two components remain: the component in the direction of the electric field and the component perpendicular to it. The transverse component agrees with the analogous quantity for liquids derived by Peierls in an entirely different way.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Author: Dengler, Richard
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7212024356