Reply to 'Comment on 'Casimir force acting on magnetodielectric bodies embedded in media''

Journal Article · Tue Dec 15 04:00:00 EST 2009 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.80.067801· OSTI ID:21352468

Raabe, Christian; Welsch, Dirk-Gunnar ^[1]

---

1. Theoretisch-Physikalisches Institut, Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, D-07743 Jena (Germany)

In a recent Comment [I. Brevik and S. A. Ellingsen, Phys. Rev. A 79, 027801 (2009)], our position that the calculation of dispersion forces should be based preferably on the Lorentz force (or, equivalently, on Maxwell's stress tensor) is put into question, and it is argued that one should resort to Minkowski's stress tensor instead. After sketching briefly our reasons for preferring the Lorentz force, we point out that by use of Minkowski's stress tensor additional, compensatory force components are included in the calculation, but inconsistently. We consider the electrostatic arguments given in support of Minkowski's tensor in the Comment as unconvincing, and we point out that the issue of divergences raised in the Comment in the context of planar setups is not specific to Maxwell's stress tensor.

• OSTI ID: 21352468
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 80; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
CASIMIR EFFECT
ELECTRODYNAMICS
FIELD THEORIES
LORENTZ FORCE
MATHEMATICAL SPACE
MINKOWSKI SPACE
OPTICS
QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
SPACE
STRESSES
TENSORS