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A dielectric is a medium whose constituent charges become polarized by an applied electric field; it may also acquire a magnetization. Spatial variation of $P$ leaves uncompensated dipole charge, giving ${\rho }_{\mathrm{bd}}=-\nabla \cdot P$. Time-dependent polarization transports charge and aligned microscopic current loops contribute magnetization current, giving the bound charge and bound current

An electrical insulator has no freely conducting bulk charge in the ideal static description, but an applied electric field can displace bound positive and negative charge relative to one another. The resulting electric dipole moments per unit volume define the polarization density $\mathbf{P}$. Distortion of electronic charge clouds, relative displacement of ions, and partial alignment of permanent molecular electric dipoles can all contribute. Thermal agitation opposes the last mechanism.

For a weak field in a linear isotropic dielectric, the constitutive law isHere ${\chi }_e$ is the electric susceptibility, $ϵ$ is the permittivity, and $\mathbf{D}$ is the electric displacement field. In an anisotropic material, ${\chi }_e$ is a tensor and $\mathbf{P}$ need not be parallel to $\mathbf{E}$. These response laws describe the macroscopic field, not necessarily the microscopic field acting on one molecule.

Spatial variation and surface termination of the polarization density give bound charge and bound current through the bound charge densitieswhere $\hat{\mathbf{n}}$ is outward from the material. Thus uniform polarization density has no bulk bound charge, but generally has opposite bound charges on opposing surfaces. Gauss's law can be rewritten asWith no free surface charge, the normal component of $\mathbf{D}$ is continuous across an interface; the tangential electric field is continuous in electrostatics.

For example, fill a parallel-plate capacitor of plate area $A$ and gap $d$ with a uniform dielectric, neglecting fringing. At fixed free plate charge $Q$, $D=Q/A$, soThe induced bound surface charges oppose the original field, reducing the electric field and potential difference at fixed $Q$. At fixed applied potential difference, the field remains $V/d$ and the battery instead supplies more free charge. The electric displacement field separates these free-charge and bound-charge roles.

Use Minkowski metric $g_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{diag}(-1,1,1,1)$ and units with the speed of light equal to one. Thus $u^{\mu }{u}_{\mu }=-1$, and $h_{\mu \nu }=g_{\mu \nu }+u_{\mu }{u}_{\nu }$ is the spatial projector of a timelike congruence. Keep the medium velocity fixed when varying the electromagnetic four-potential. Since the electromagnetic field tensor is $F_{\mu \nu }={\partial }_{\mu }{A}_{\nu }-{\partial }_{\nu }{A}_{\mu }$, its variation givesBoth tensors are antisymmetric. Integration by parts, with variations vanishing at the boundary, therefore givesThe Euler-Lagrange field equation is ${\partial }_{\mu }(F^{\mu \nu }-M^{\mu \nu })=0$. Renaming the free index and using antisymmetry givesThese are the inhomogeneous Maxwell equations with the bound charge and bound current encoded by the polarization-magnetization tensor.

Choose $A^{\mu }=(\Phi ,\mathbf{A})$, so that $F_{i0}=E_i$ and $F_{ij}={ϵ}_{ijk}{B}_k$, with ${ϵ}_{123}=1$. The definitions of the polarization-magnetization tensor imply $M^{0i}=-P_i$ and $M^{ij}={ϵ}_{ijk}{M}_k$. Separating temporal and spatial indices,The Levi-Civita symbol contraction equals $2{\delta }_{k\ell }$, givingThus $\mathbf{P}$ is the electric dipole moment per volume, or electric polarization, and $\mathbf{M}$ is the magnetic dipole moment per volume, or magnetization. The signs are those of dipole interactions in a Lagrangian; the associated fixed-dipole potential energies have the opposite signs. Consistently, the equation in part (a) has componentsso ${\rho }_b=-\nabla \cdot \mathbf{P}$ and ${\mathbf{J}}_b={\partial }_t\mathbf{P}+\nabla \times \mathbf{M}$ are the bound charge and bound current.

An antisymmetric tensor combines the electric polarization and magnetization of a medium. For Minkowski metric $(-,+,+,+)$ and units with light speed one, choose $M^{i0}=P_i$ and $M^{ij}={ϵ}_{ijk}{M}_k$, together with $F_{i0}=E_i$ and $F_{ij}={ϵ}_{ijk}{B}_k$. Then the Lorentz scalar interaction is $M^{\mu \nu }{F}_{\mu \nu }/2=\mathbf{P}\cdot \mathbf{E}+\mathbf{M}\cdot \mathbf{B}$. The bound charge and bound current have four-current $j_b^{\mu }={\partial }_{\nu }{M}^{\mu \nu }$, giving ${\rho }_b=-\nabla \cdot \mathbf{P}$ and ${\mathbf{J}}_b={\partial }_t\mathbf{P}+\nabla \times \mathbf{M}$. This current is identically conserved because partial derivatives commute and $M$ is antisymmetric.