Tracking the radiation reaction energy when charged bodies accelerate

Abstract

We address some questions related to radiation and energy conservation in classical electromagnetism. We first treat the well-known problem of energy accounting during radiation from a uniformly accelerating particle. We present the problem in the form of a paradox, and then answer it using a modern treatment of radiation reaction and self-force, as it appears in the expression due to Eliezer and Ford and O'Connell. We clarify the influence of the Schott force and the total radiated power, which differs from Larmor's formula. Finally, we present a simple and highly visual argument which enables one to track the radiated energy without the need to appeal to the far field in the distant future (the 'wave zone').

8 pages 3 figs

References in corpus (4)

• Aspects of electromagnetic radiation reaction in strong fields
• The radiation of a uniformly accelerated charge is beyond the horizon: a simple derivation
• Reduced-order Abraham-Lorentz-Dirac equation and the consistency of classical electromagnetism
• The non-existence of the self-accelerating dipole, and related questions

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Radiation reaction and the acceleration-dependent mass increase of a charged sphere undergoing uniform acceleration
• Radiation Reaction as a Non-conservative Force
• Radiation Reaction in a Lorentz-Violating Electrodynamics
• Self-force on a charged particle in an external scalar field
• Dynamics of spherical distributions of charge with small internal dipolar motion
• A heuristic derivation of radiative power loss and radiation reaction from the kinetic power of electric inertial mass of a charge