• Sidney Coleman's argument for a hyperbolically accelerated electron rad

    From john mcandrew@21:1/5 to All on Sat Oct 24 00:02:46 2020
    Sidney Coleman wrote a report in 1961 that derived the LAD equation for a classical electron using what was then 'modern theory':

    https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM2820.html

    I've tried to copy his diagram below which formats OK using classic Google groups but not in the newer, current version. On page 35 he writes:

    "-----"
    If we remember that in Maxwellian dynamics, the radiation field is given by the difference of the advanced and retarded fields, it is easy to see that the electron radiates.

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    _______________\__\ /__* ___/__________x
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    The figure shows the world line of an electron undergoing hyperbolic acceleration. The past light cone from the point P does not interact with the electron worldline, so the retarded potential vanishes; the future light cone intersects it once, so the
    advanced potential doesn't. Thus there is a radiation field at P."
    "-----"

    I don't agree with this. The past light cone of the observation point P not intersecting with the electron's world line means the retarded field at P is undefined rather than being zero, and hence the radiation field there is also undefined.


    Thanks in advance for any comments.

    J McA

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