Paper 1, Section II, A

Electrodynamics
Part II, 2015

Briefly explain how to interpret the components of the relativistic stress-energy tensor in terms of the density and flux of energy and momentum in some inertial frame.

(i) The stress-energy tensor of the electromagnetic field is

Temμν=1μ0(FμαFαν14ημνFαβFαβ)T_{\mathrm{em}}^{\mu \nu}=\frac{1}{\mu_{0}}\left(F^{\mu \alpha} F_{\alpha}^{\nu}-\frac{1}{4} \eta^{\mu \nu} F^{\alpha \beta} F_{\alpha \beta}\right)

where FμνF_{\mu \nu} is the field strength, ημν\eta_{\mu \nu} is the Minkowski metric, and μ0\mu_{0} is the permeability of free space. Show that μTemμν=FμνJμ\partial_{\mu} T_{\mathrm{em}}^{\mu \nu}=-F_{\mu}^{\nu} J^{\mu}, where JμJ^{\mu} is the current 4-vector.

[ Maxwell's equations are μFμν=μ0Jν\partial_{\mu} F^{\mu \nu}=-\mu_{0} J^{\nu} and ρFμν+νFρμ+μFνρ=0.\partial_{\rho} F_{\mu \nu}+\partial_{\nu} F_{\rho \mu}+\partial_{\mu} F_{\nu \rho}=0 . ]

(ii) A fluid consists of point particles of rest mass mm and charge qq. The fluid can be regarded as a continuum, with 4 -velocity uμ(x)u^{\mu}(x) depending on the position xx in spacetime. For each xx there is an inertial frame SxS_{x} in which the fluid particles at xx are at rest. By considering components in SxS_{x}, show that the fluid has a current 4-vector field

Jμ=qn0uμJ^{\mu}=q n_{0} u^{\mu}

and a stress-energy tensor

Tfluid μν=mn0uμuν,T_{\text {fluid }}^{\mu \nu}=m n_{0} u^{\mu} u^{\nu},

where n0(x)n_{0}(x) is the proper number density of particles (the number of particles per unit spatial volume in SxS_{x} in a small region around xx ). Write down the Lorentz 4-force on a fluid particle at xx. By considering the resulting 4 -acceleration of the fluid, show that the total stress-energy tensor is conserved, i.e.

μ(Temμν+Tfluid μν)=0.\partial_{\mu}\left(T_{\mathrm{em}}^{\mu \nu}+T_{\text {fluid }}^{\mu \nu}\right)=0 .