GeezerVison

In classical electromagnetism, the Maxwell stress tensor (named after James Clerk Maxwell) is the stress tensor of an electromagnetic field. In tensor index notation it is given by: ${\sigma }_{ij}={\epsilon }_0{E}_i{E}_j+\frac{1}{{\mu }_0}{B}_i{B}_j-(\frac{{\epsilon }_0}{2}{E}^2+\frac{B^2}{2{\mu }_0}){\delta }_{ij},$ where ${\epsilon }_0$ is the electric constant, ${\mu }_0$ the magnetic constant, E the electric field, B the magnetic field, and ${\delta }_{ij}$ is the Kronecker delta. In the Gaussian system, it is given by: ${\sigma }_{ij}=\frac{1}{4\pi }[E_i{E}_j+H_i{H}_j-\frac{1}{2}(E^2+H^2){\delta }_{ij}],$ where H is the magnetizing field. ($E^2$ etc is the field magnitude squared, though this is slightly non-standard in tensor notation.)

The elements $ij$ have units of force per unit of area (negative pressure), denoting the force parallel to the $i$th axis suffered by a surface normal to the $j$th axis per unit of area. As such the diagonal elements give the tension acting on the plane normal to the corresponding axis and the off-diagonal elements represent shear stress in the plane.

Expressed in vector/dyad notation we would have: $𝝈={\epsilon }_0𝐄\otimes 𝐄+\frac{1}{{\mu }_0}𝐁\otimes 𝐁-(\frac{{\epsilon }_0}{2}{E}^2+\frac{1}{2{\mu }_0}{B}^2)𝕀$ in SI units or $𝝈=\frac{1}{4\pi }[𝐄\otimes 𝐄+𝐇\otimes 𝐇-\frac{1}{2}(E^2+H^2)𝕀]$ in CGS units where $\otimes$ is the dyadic product, and the last tensor is the unit dyadic: $𝕀\equiv \left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right)=\widehat{𝐱}\otimes \widehat{𝐱}+\widehat{𝐲}\otimes \widehat{𝐲}+\widehat{𝐳}\otimes \widehat{𝐳}$

In the relativistic formulation of electromagnetism, the nine components of the Maxwell stress tensor appear, negated, as components of the electromagnetic stress–energy tensor, which is the electromagnetic component of the total stress–energy tensor. The latter describes the density and flux of energy and momentum in spacetime.

The following derivation defines the Maxwell stress tensor by way of introducing it so as to show how electromagnetic body forces arise from electrical and magnetic fields. For an explanation more directly as to how the tensor describes stress (in the absence of body forces) see the web article by J.S.Reid ^[1].

As outlined below, the electromagnetic force is written in terms of $𝐄$ and $𝐁$. Using vector calculus and Maxwell's equations, symmetry is sought for in the terms containing $𝐄$ and $𝐁$, and introducing the Maxwell stress tensor simplifies the result.

The derivation follows Griffiths ^[2] and applies in the case of a vacuum.

If the field is only magnetic (which is largely true in motors, for instance), some of the terms drop out, and the equation in SI units becomes: ${\sigma }_{ij}=\frac{1}{{\mu }_0}{B}_i{B}_j-\frac{B^2}{2{\mu }_0}{\delta }_{ij}.$

In electrostatics the effects of magnetism are not present. In this case the magnetic field vanishes, i.e. $𝐁=\mathrm{𝟎}$, and we obtain the electrostatic Maxwell stress tensor. It is given in component form by ${\sigma }_{ij}={\epsilon }_0{E}_i{E}_j-\frac{{\epsilon }_0}{2}{E}^2{\delta }_{ij}$ and in symbolic form by $𝝈={\epsilon }_0𝐄\otimes 𝐄-\frac{1}{2}{\epsilon }_0(𝐄\cdot 𝐄)𝐈$ where $𝐈$ is the appropriate identity tensor $($usually $3\times 3)$.

The eigenvalues of the Maxwell stress tensor are given by: $\lambda =-\frac{{\epsilon }_0}{2}{E}^2-\frac{B^2}{2{\mu }_0},\pm \sqrt{{(\frac{{\epsilon }_0}{2}{E}^2-\frac{B^2}{2{\mu }_0})}^2+\frac{{\epsilon }_0}{{\mu }_0}{(𝐄\cdot 𝐁)}^2}$

These eigenvalues are obtained by iteratively applying the matrix determinant lemma, in conjunction with the Sherman–Morrison formula.

Noting that the characteristic equation matrix, $𝝈-\lambda 𝕀$, can be written as $𝝈-\lambda 𝕀=-(\lambda +V)𝕀+{\epsilon }_0𝐄{𝐄}^{\text{𝖳}}+\frac{1}{{\mu }_0}𝐁{𝐁}^{\text{𝖳}}$ where $V=\frac{1}{2}({\epsilon }_0{E}^2+\frac{1}{{\mu }_0}{B}^2)$ we set $𝐔=-(\lambda +V)𝕀+{\epsilon }_0𝐄{𝐄}^{\text{𝖳}}$

Applying the matrix determinant lemma once, this gives us $det(𝝈-\lambda 𝕀)=(1+\frac{1}{{\mu }_0}{𝐁}^{\text{𝖳}}{𝐔}^{-1}𝐁)det\left(𝐔\right)$

Applying it again yields, $det(𝝈-\lambda 𝕀)=(1+\frac{1}{{\mu }_0}{𝐁}^{\text{𝖳}}{𝐔}^{-1}𝐁)(1-\frac{{\epsilon }_0{𝐄}^{\text{𝖳}}𝐄}{\lambda +V}){(-\lambda -V)}^3$

From the last multiplicand on the RHS, we immediately see that $\lambda =-V$ is one of the eigenvalues.

To find the inverse of $𝐔$, we use the Sherman-Morrison formula: ${𝐔}^{-1}=-{(\lambda +V)}^{-1}-\frac{{\epsilon }_0𝐄{𝐄}^{\text{𝖳}}}{{(\lambda +V)}^2-(\lambda +V){\epsilon }_0{𝐄}^{\text{𝖳}}𝐄}$

Factoring out a $(-\lambda -V)$ term in the determinant, we are left with finding the zeros of the rational function: $[-(\lambda +V)-\frac{{\epsilon }_0{(𝐄\cdot 𝐁)}^2}{{\mu }_0(-(\lambda +V)+{\epsilon }_0{𝐄}^{\text{𝖳}}𝐄)}][-(\lambda +V)+{\epsilon }_0{𝐄}^{\text{𝖳}}𝐄]$

Thus, once we solve $-(\lambda +V)(-(\lambda +V)+{\epsilon }_0{E}^2)-\frac{{\epsilon }_0}{{\mu }_0}{(𝐄\cdot 𝐁)}^2=0$ we obtain the other two eigenvalues.

• Electromagnetic stress–energy tensor
• Energy density of electric and magnetic fields
• Magnetic pressure
• Magnetic tension
• Poynting vector

• John David Jackson, "Classical Electrodynamics, 3rd Ed.", John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1999. A standard text for electrodynamics.
• Richard Becker, "Electromagnetic Fields and Interactions", Dover Publications Inc., 1964