A solvable microscopic model for the propagation of light in a dielectric medium

2025/06/20 by Richard Dengler, Dengler, Richard · 1 voice · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Classical Physics (physics.class-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Optical Polarization and Ellipsometry #Optical and Acousto-Optic Technologies #physics.class-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2506.17415

openalex publication_date 2025/06/20 · arxiv published 2025/06/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · arxiv updated 2025/11/02 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Maxwell's equations resemble Schrödinger's equation in that an exact solution for a well-defined model delivers all physically relevant details. Solvable microscopic electrodynamic models, however, are rare. An exception is the discrete dipole approximation (DDA), which models a medium as a lattice of point dipoles. We use a regularized DDA variant to examine mechanical and electromagnetic momentum of light signals in such a medium in detail. The results agree in essential parts with that of the theory of R. Peierls from 1976.

Citations

• Dynamical Theory of Crystal Lattices

Cited by

• The connection between electromagnetic stress tensors and the dielectric constant in a medium

Discussions

• Richard Dengler: A solvable microscopic model for the propagation of light in a dielectric medium https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.17415 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.17415 https://arxiv.org/html/2506.17415 [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]

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