The relativistic transformations of the polarization (electric moment density) P and magnetization (magnetic moment density) M of macroscopic electrodynamics1 imply corresponding transformations of the electric and magnetic dipole moments p and m, respectively, of a particle. Thus, to first order in /c,2
(1)
(2)
Here, the subscript 0 denotes quantities in the particle’s rest frame and v is the particle’s velocity. According to Eq. (1), a moving rest-frame magnetic dipole develops an electric dipole moment . While this fact is well known and understood,3–5 the complementary effect that a moving electric dipole acquires a magnetic moment does not seem to be understood equally well.6 There does not...
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