On the electrodynamics of Minkowski at low velocities G. Rousseaux(a)

Abstract – The Galilean constitutive equations for the electrodynamics of moving media are derived for the first time. They explain all the historic and modern experiments which were interpreted so far in a relativistic framework assuming the constant light celerity principle. Here, we show the latter to be sufficient but not necessary. Copyright c © EPLA, 2008 One century ago, Hermann Minkowski formulated, for the first time, a covariant theory of electrodynamics in moving media [1–4]. He generalized the studies of Henri Poincare ́ [5] and Albert Einstein [6] which were restricted to vacuum. The theory was not only a consequence of the relativity principle formulated by Poincare ́ but also of the constant light celerity principle formulated by Einstein. Hence, it should have been (and was) applied to the optics of moving media [7] and to fast particles in media [8]. Moreover, it was thought to be the onl