Interaction forces of dielectric cylinders in electric fields

The electric field configuration and forces in a dielectric system of two long circular cylindrical bodies is studied in detail. The cylinders are parallel to each other and situated in a uniform transverse electric field. The cylinder bodies and surrounding medium have arbitrary and different permittivities. The origin of the forces in the piecewise-homogeneous material under study is polarization in the dielectrics. The local forces on the surfaces of the cylinders are examined. It is shown that the cylinders exert forces on each other. The total forces and torques depend on the dielectric materials, the geometric parameters of the system, and the orientation of the applied electric field. Under these conditions the problem has a complete analytic solution.