Interference in the radiation of two point-like charges

Abstract

Energy-momentum and angular momentum carried by electromagnetic field of two point-like charged particles arbitrarily moving in flat spacetime are presented. Apart from usual contributions to the Noether quantities produced separately by particles 1 and 2, the conservation laws contain also joint contribution due to the fields of both particles. The mixed part of Maxwell energy-momentum density is decomposed into bound and radiative components which are separately conserved off the world lines of particles. The former describes the deformation of electromagnetic clouds of ``bare'' charges due to mutual interaction while the latter defines the radiation which escapes to infinity. The bound terms contribute to particles' individual 4-momenta while the radiative ones exert the radiation reaction. Analysis of energy-momentum and angular momentum balance equations results the Lorentz-Dirac equation as an equation of motion for a pointed charge under the influence of its own electromagnetic field as well as field produced by another charge.

46 pages, 8 figures

References in corpus (6)

• The critical manifold of the Lorentz-Dirac equation
• Exact solutions in the Yang-Mills-Wong theory
• Universal Self Force from an Extended-Object Approach
• Calculation of the Self Force using the Extended-Object Approach
• Radiation reaction, renormalization and conservation laws in six-dimensional classical electrodynamics
• Interference of outgoing electromagnetic waves generated by two point-like sources