3 years ago

# An Effective Photon Momentum in a Dielectric Medium: A Relativistic Approach.

Farhang Amiri, J. Ronald Galli, Bradley W. Carroll

We use a relativistic argument to define an effective photon that travels through a transparent (non-absorbing) nondispersive dielectric medium of index of refraction $n$. If $p$ is the momentum of the photon in a vacuum, then the momentum of an effective photon inside the medium may be of the form $p_{\rm eff}=pn^\alpha$ and still reproduce the observed transverse relativistic drift when the medium is in motion. We employ an energy argument to determine the value of the exponent to be $\alpha =-1$, so that the effective photon momentum is $p_{\rm eff}=p/n$, which is the Abraham momentum.

Publisher URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/1801.00679

DOI: arXiv:1801.00679v2

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