On the boundary-value problems and the validity of the Post constraint in modern electromagnetism

We recall that the theory of electromagnetism consists of three building blocks: (a) the inhomogeneous Maxwell equations for the electric and magnetic excitations (D,H)(D,H) (which reflects charge conservation), (b) the homogeneous Maxwell equations for the electric and magnetic field strengths (E,B)(E,B) (which reflects flux conservation), and (c) the constitutive relation between (D,H)(D,H) and (E,B)(E,B). In the recent paper [A. Lakhtakia, Boundary-value problems and the validity of the Post constraint in modern electromagnetism, Optik 117 (2006) 188–192], Lakhtakia proposed to change the standard boundary conditions in electrodynamics in order to exclude certain constitutive parameters. We show that this is inadmissible both from the macroscopic and the microscopic points of view.