Local conservation of electromagnetic momentum (source code)

= Local conservation of electromagnetic momentum

With the momentum-flux sign convention used for the <Maxwell stress tensor>, Maxwell's equations imply
$$
\nabla\mathbin{\cdot}\boldsymbol\sigma
+\partial_t\mathbf g=-\mathbf f_{\rm L},
$$
where $\mathbf g$ is the <electromagnetic momentum density> and $\mathbf f_{\rm L}$ is the <Lorentz force density> exerted by the field on matter. Thus total field-plus-matter momentum is locally conserved.