Does a compressed, moving pencil have hidden momentum?

(Dated: July 5, 2012)

Consider a one-dimensional pencil being compressed by forces

F
0
and

F
0
applied at its ends. This pencil, with
rest mass M
0
and proper length L
0
, is described by an energy-momentum tensor whose components in its rest frame
(with usual Lorentzian coordinates {(ct

, x

)}) are
T

M
0
c
2
/L
0
0 0 0
0 F
0
0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0

[(x

) (x

L
0
)](y

)(z

), (1)
where () is the Heaviside step function and () the Diracs -function. Calculating

gives:

= (0, F
0
, 0, 0) [(x

)(y

)(z

) (x

L
0
)(y

)(z

)], (2)
which corroborates the fact that Eq. (1) describes a stick compressed by external forces

F
0
in its rest frame,
which are covariantly described by the 4-force eld f

. It is obvious that there must exist an external

system exerting these forces, but as far as the pencil is concerned, f

is all there is. The pencil is oblivious to any

other information of the external system (energy-momentum distribution, charges, ...). Accordingly, if our system
of interest is the compressed pencil, no information of the energy-momentum distribution of the external system is
needed (other than f

).
Important note: In relativity all interactions must be local and the eect of any other external system (i.e., not
included in the T

being considered that is the denition of external) over the system described by the energy-
momentum tensor T

occurs only through

= f

. In other words, one system reads the other only through

the 4-forces they exchange; no other information is read. This means, in this particular case of the compressed
pencil, that it does not matter the nature of the forces of compression

F
0
; the pencil (i.e., its energy-momentum
distribution) will behave exactly the same way, regardless if the compression is due to opposite charges at its ends or
due to mechanical forces being applied. As far as the compressed-pencil system is concerned, trying to make a
distinction between these situations at the energy and momentum levels of the pencil is certainly against the spirit of
relativity.
Now, let us consider this same pencil as seen from another inertial frame (with usual Lorentzian coordinates
{(ct, x)}), in which the pencil moves with velocity

V = (V, 0, 0) parallel to itself. Lorentz-transforming Eqs. (1,2)
leads to
T

=
2

M
0
c
2
/L
0
+ V
2
F
0
/c
2
(V/c)(M
0
c
2
/L
0
+ F
0
) 0 0
(V/c)(M
0
c
2
/L
0
+ F
0
) M
0
V
2
/L
0
+ F
0
0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0

[(x V t) (x V t
1
L
0
)](y)(z) (3)
and
f

= (F
0
V/c, F
0
, 0, 0) [(x V t)(y)(z) (x V t
1
L
0
)(y)(z)]. (4)
With Eq. (3) in hands we can compute any mechanical property of the pencil as seen in the moving frame. For
instance, in order to obtain its total mass/energy M and momentum

P, we shall integrate the associated components
of T

in a region which contains the whole pencil; for simplicity, this region can be chosen to be the entire spatial
section :
M =

d
3
x T
00
/c
2
= (M
0
+ F
0
L
0
V
2
/c
4
) (5)
P
i
=

d
3
x T
0i
/c = (M
0
V + F
0
L
0
V/c
2
, 0, 0) (6)
Thus, as long as we are interested only in the compressed-pencil system, we have a closed system carrying energy
and momentum (closed means that the only way T

is not being conserved is through external forces f

,
not because energy and momentum are articially leaking out of/sneaking into the region of the system as might
occur if we were interested in only a subset of the pencil). Therefore, using that the center-of-mass/energy velocity

V
cme
is obviously given in this case by

V , we can easily compute

P M

V
cme
=
F
0
L
0
V
c
2
x (7)
(where x = (1, 0, 0)). Therefore, the compressed pencil is carrying more momentum than simply due to the motion
of its total energy. And since there is no excuse for this excess of momentum to have articially sneaked into
the system through an imaginary boundary (as would occur, for instance, if the system were a portion of a owing
river), we term this dierence as hidden momentum.
One can also easily verify that this hidden momentum can be obtained (in this closed-system case) by:

d
3
x f
0
(x

X
cme
)/c =
F
0
V
c
2
(V t V t L
0
/)x =
F
0
L
0
V
c
2
x, (8)
where

X
cme
is the position of the center of mass/energy of the system (which did not play a role here).
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