On the energy-momentum of light: an all optical view of the Abraham-Minkowski controversy

The energy-momentum of light in a medium is known to have two conflicting descriptions, due to Abraham and Minkowski. In non-linear electrodynamics, a strong field can cause the vacuum to behave analogously to a dielectric material. We investigate the Abraham-Minkowski controversy in this context, and show that for non-linear electrodynamics in vacuum, the Minkowski description is the most natural.