Extended-body approach to the electromagnetic self-force in curved spacetime

During the past century, there has been considerable discussion and analysis of the motion of a point charge, taking into account "self-force" effects due to the particle's own electromagnetic field. We analyze the issue of "particle motion" in classical electromagnetism in a rigorous and systematic way by considering a one-parameter family of solutions to the coupled Maxwell and matter equations corresponding to having a body whose charge-current density $J^a(\lambda)$ and s...

Several noncovariant formulations of the electromagnetic self-force of extended charged bodies, as have been developed in the context of classical models of charged particles, are compared. The mathematical equivalence of the various dissimilar self-force expressions is demonstrated explicitly by deriving these expressions directly from one another. The applicability of the self-force formulations and their significance in the wider context of classical charged particle model...

We consider the self-force on a charged particle moving in a curved spacetime with a background electromagnetic field, extending previous studies to situations in which gravitational and electromagnetic perturbations are comparable. The formal expression $f^{ret}_\alpha$ for the self-force on a particle, written in terms of the retarded perturbed fields, is divergent, and a renormalization is needed to find the particle's acceleration at linear order in its mass $m$ and charg...

We develop an approach to calculate the self-force on a charged particle held in place in a curved spacetime, in which the particle is attached to a massless string and the force is measured by the string's tension. The calculation is based on the Weyl class of static and axially symmetric spacetimes, and the presence of the string is manifested by a conical singularity; the tension is proportional to the angular deficit. A remarkable and appealing aspect of this approach is ...

We derive exact expressions for the scalar and electromagnetic self-forces and self-torques acting on arbitrary static extended bodies in arbitrary static spacetimes with any number of dimensions. Non-perturbatively, our results are identical in all dimensions. Meaningful point particle limits are quite different in different dimensions, however. These limits are defined and evaluated, resulting in simple "regularization algorithms" which can be used in concrete calculations....

Building upon previous results in scalar field theory, a formalism is developed that uses generalized Killing fields to understand the behavior of extended charges interacting with their own electromagnetic fields. New notions of effective linear and angular momenta are identified, and their evolution equations are derived exactly in arbitrary (but fixed) curved spacetimes. A slightly modified form of the Detweiler-Whiting axiom that a charge's motion should only be influence...

We present an original approach to compute the electromagnetic self-force acting on a static charge in Kerr spacetime. Our approach is based on an improved version of the Janis-Newman algorithm and extends its range of applicability. It leads to a closed expression which generalizes the existing one and, since it does not involve the electromagnetic potential, it simplifies the calculation of the self-force.

We derive a new regularization method for the calculation of the (massless) scalar self force in curved spacetime. In this method, the scalar self force is expressed in terms of the difference between two retarded scalar fields: the massless scalar field, and an auxiliary massive scalar field. This field difference combined with a certain limiting process gives the expression for the scalar self-force. This expression provides a new self force calculation method.

We calculate the self-force on an electric charge and electric dipole held at rest in a closed universe that results from joining two copies of Minkowski spacetime at a common boundary. Spacetime is strictly flat on each side of the boundary, but there is curvature at the surface layer required to join the two Minkowski spacetimes. We find that the self-force on the charge is always directed away from the surface layer. This is analogous to the case of an electric charge held...

We discuss, in the context of classical electrodynamics with a Lorentz invariant cut-off at short distances, the self-force acting on a point charged particle. It follows that the electromagnetic mass of the point charge occurs in the equation of motion in a form consistent with special relativity. We find that the exact equation of motion does not exhibit runaway solutions or non-causal behavior, when the cut-off is larger than half of the classical radius of the electron.