https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-024-05808-6
Regular Article
Torque on an electric/magnetic dipole in the relativistic limit
1
Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus
2
Institute for Nuclear Problems, Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus
3
Okan University, Akfirat, Istanbul, Turkey
Received:
17
October
2024
Accepted:
5
November
2024
Published online:
24
November
2024
Using a covariant expression for the Lagrangian density of a polarized/magnetized material medium in an electromagnetic field (M. Fabrizio and A. Morri, Electromagnetism of Continuous Media (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003)), we derive for the first time in the classical framework the Lorentz-invariant expression for the torque exerted on an electric/magnetic dipole in the presence of electric and magnetic fields and discuss its implications. In particular, we show that in the strong relativistic limit, where the Lorentz factor associated with the moving dipole becomes much larger than unity, the torque terms with an explicit dependence on the velocity of dipole can remain comparable with the well-known terms p × E and m × B, where p, m are the electric and magnetic dipole moments, and E, B are the electric and magnetic fields, correspondingly.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
