Andrew M. Steane – scitation.aip.org
We consider radiation reaction and energy conservation in classical electromagnetism. We first treat the well-known problem of energy accounting during radiation from a uniformly accelerating particle. This gives rise to the following paradox: when the self-force vanishes, the system providing the applied force does only enough work to give the particle its kinetic energy—so where does the energy that is eventually radiated away come from? We answer this question 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 we find that the radiated power is , which differs from Larmor’s formula. Finally, we present a simple and highly visual argument that enables one to track the radiated energy without the need to appeal to the far field in the distant future (the “wave zone”)…
Read more at http://arxiv.org/pdf/1408.1349v1.pdf