Energy–momentum tensor of the electromagnetic field in dispersive media

We study the relation between the energy–momentum tensor of the electromagnetic field and the group velocity of quasi-monochromatic waves in a nonabsorptive, isotropic, spatially and temporally dispersive dielectric. It is shown that the Abraham force acting on a dielectric is not needed for the momentum conservation law to hold if the dielectric is free of external charges and currents and if the Abraham momentum density is used. The energy–momentum tensor turns out to be symmetric, and the Maxwell stress tensor is expressed either in terms of the momentum density vector and the group velocity or in terms of the energy density and the group velocity. The stress tensor and the energy density are essentially dependent on the frequency and wave vector derivatives of the functions that describe the electromagnetic properties of the medium (i.e., the dielectric permittivity and the magnetic permeability). The obtained results are applicable to both ordinary and left-handed media. The results are compared with those of other authors. The pressure a wave exerts on the interface between two media is calculated. For both ordinary and left-handed media, either ‘radiation pressure’ or ‘radiation attraction’ can occur at the interface, depending on the material parameters of the two media. For liquid dielectrics, the striction effect is considered.