Momentum of electromagnetic fields, speed of light in moving media, and the photon mass

Abstract

In both the equations for matter and light wave propagation, the momentum of the electromagnetic fields P e reflects the relevant electromagnetic interaction. As a review of possible applications of wave propagation properties in the scenarios of standard and stochastic electrodynamics, some relevant experiments are described. Moreover, P e is also the link to the unitary vision of the quantum effects of the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) type, which provide a useful quantum approach for the limit of the photon mass m ph . A bench-top experiment based on effects of the AB type that exploit new interferometric techniques, is foreseen to yield the limit m ph ≃ 10−54 g, a value that improves upon the results achieved with other approaches.