Dynamic magneto-flexoelectricity and seismo-electromagnetic phenomena: Connecting mechanical response to electromagnetic signatures

Abstract

The electromagnetic aspects of the fully dynamic flexoelectric problem are examined for dielectric solids by introducing a new theoretical framework which incorporates both gradients of electric polarization and flexoelectricity due to strain gradients and also includes a weak coupling with the magnetic field. This formulation predicts the existence of linear relations between the electric field and the dilatational components of the particle accelerations. It also shows that the magnetic flux and the magnetic field are proportional to the shear components of the particle velocities. Our continuum theory, although based on very different assumptions, seems to be analogous to the electrokinetic theory of Pride which has been used to assess seismo-magnetic phenomena and measurements in earthquake events.