On Back-reaction in Special Relativity
arXiv:1303.6188 · doi:10.1119/1.4807754
Abstract
Back-reaction of fields plays an important role in the generation of particle masses and the mass-energy equivalence of special relativity, but the most natural demonstrations using classical models result in apparent errors such as the notorious "4/3" problem. Here we discuss the resolution of these discrepancies within the underlying atomic description of matter, with the aim of encouraging classroom discussion of back-reaction and its connection to relativistic effects.
15 pages, 2 figures. Has been submitted to the American Journal of Physics; after it is published, it will be found at http://scitation.aip.org/ajp/