A Consistent Construction of the Electromagnetic Energy-Momentum Tensor

Abstract

This work discusses the problem of the apparently non-symmetric form of the electromagnetic fields’ energy-momentum tensor, which is obtained from the variational principle. The analysis treats differently radiation fields and bound fields. This distinction has a solid experimental basis where the hydrogen atom proves that radiation fields and bound fields have a different spin and a different parity. A direct calculation proves that in the case of radiation fields, the variational principle yields the well known symmetric energy momentum tensor and the problem does not exist.