Classical electrodynamics and the quantum nature of light (original) (raw)

96 05 01 4 v 2 2 6 M ay 1 99 6 Causality and Self-consistency in Classical Electrodynamics

2013

We present a pedagogical review of old inconsistencies of Classical Electrodynamics and of some new ideas that solve them. Problems with the electron equation of motion and with the nonintegrable singularity of its self-field energy tensor are well known. They are consequences, we show, of neglecting terms that are null off the charge world-line but that give a non null contribution on its world-line. The electron self-field energy tensor is integrable without the use of any kind of renormalization; there is no causality violation and no conflict with energy conservation in the electron equation of motion, when its meaning is properly considered.

The Lorentz-Dirac Equation and the Physical Meaning of the Maxwell's Fields

1995

Classical Electrodynamics is not a consistent theory because of its field inadequate behaviour in the vicinity of their sources. Its problems with the electron equation of motion and with non-integrable singularity of the electron self field and of its stress tensor are well known. These inconsistencies are eliminated if the discrete and localized (classical photons) character of the electromagnetic interaction is anticipatively recognized already in a classical context. This is possible, in a manifestly covariant way, with a new model of spacetime structure, shown in a previous paper 1^{1}1, that invalidates the Lorentz-Dirac equation. For a point classical electron there is no field singularity, no causality violation and no conflict with energy conservation in the electron equation of motion. The electromagnetic field must be re-interpreted in terms of average flux of classical photons. Implications of a singularity-free formalism to field theory are discussed.

Electrodynamics Classical Inconsistencies

1995

The problems of Classical Electrodynamics with the electron equation of motion and with non-integrable singularity of its self-field stress tensor are well known. They are consequences, we show, of neglecting terms that are null off the charge world line but that gives a non null contribution on its world line. The self-field stress tensor of a point classical electron is integrable, there is no causality violation and no conflict with energy conservation in its equation of motion, and there is no need of any kind of renormalization nor of any change in the Maxwell's theory for this. (This is part of the paper hep-th/9510160, stripped , for simplicity, of its non-Minkowskian geometrization of causality and of its discussion about the physical meaning of the Maxwell-Faraday concept of field).

Conceptual Problems in Classical Electrodynamics

Philosophy of Science, 2008

In Frisch 2004 and 2005 I showed that the standard ways of modeling particle-field interactions in classical electrodynamics, which exclude the interactions of a particle with its own field, results in a formal inconsistency, and I argued that attempts to include the selffield lead to numerous conceptual problems. In this paper I respond to criticism of my account in Belot 2007 and Muller 2007. I concede that this inconsistency in itself is less telling than I suggested earlier but argue that existing solutions to the theory's foundational problems do not support the kind of traditional philosophical conception of scientific theorizing defended by Muller and Belot.

Modern Classical Electrodynamics and Electromagnetic Radiation - Vacuum Field Theory Aspects

The work is devoted to studying some new classical electrodynamics models of interacting charged point particles and related with them physical aspects. Based on the vacuum field theory no-geometry approach, developed in \cite{BPT,BPT1}, the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian reformulations of some alternative classical electrodynamics models are devised. A problem closely related to the radiation reaction force is analyzed aiming to explain the Wheeler and Feynman reaction radiation mechanism, well known as the absorption radiation theory, and strongly dependent on the Mach type interaction of a charged point particle in an ambient vacuum electromagnetic medium. There are discussed some relationships between this problem and the one derived within the context of the vacuum field theory approach. The R. \ Feynman's \textquotedblleft heretical\textquotedblright\ approach \cite{Dy1,Dy2} to deriving the Lorentz force based Maxwell electromagnetic equations is also revisited, its complete l...

Electrons and Photons: Fact not Fiction

2000

The particle Fock space of the matter fields in QED can be constructed using the free creation and annihilation operators. However, these particle operators are not, even at asymptotically large times, the modes of the matter fields that enter the QED Lagrangian. In this letter we construct the fields which do recover such particle modes at large times. We are thus able to demonstrate for the first time that, contrary to statements found in the literature, a relativistic description of charged particles in QED exists.

Massless classical electrodynamics

In the direct action form of classical EM we give the equation of motion for a classical massless bare charge without self-interaction in the presence of an external field. That equation permits superluminal speeds and time-reversals, and so is a realization of the Stueckelberg-Feynman view of electrons and positrons as different segments of a single trajectory. We give a particular solution to a one body problem, and briefly discuss some aspects of the two-body problem. There is some discussion of the historical context of this effort, including the direct action and absorber theories, and some speculation on how the massless bare charge may acquire mass, and how these findings impact the problem of singular self-action.