The origin of the Schott term in the electromagnetic self force of a classical point charge

Abstract

The Schott term is the third order term in the electromagnetic self force of a charged point particle. The self force may be obtained by integrating the electromagnetic stress-energy-momentum tensor over the side of a narrow hypertube enclosing a section of worldline. This calculation has been repeated many times using two different hypertubes known as the Dirac Tube and the Bhabha Tube, however in previous calculations using a Bhabha Tube the Schott term does not arise as a result of this integration. In order to regain the Lorentz-Abraham-Dirac equation many authors have added an ad hoc compensatory term to the non-electromagnetic contribution to the total momentum. In this article the Schott term is obtained by direct integration of the electromagnetic stress-energy-momentum tensor.

13 pages, 2 figures, Accepted by J. Math. Phys. Supplementary MAPLE Code included