Inter-charge forces in relativistic classical electrodynamics: electromagnetic induction in different reference frames

Recently Mansuripur has called into question the validity of the Lorentz force in connection with relativistic electromagnetic theory. Here we present some very simple point-charge systems treated through order v^{2}/c^{2} in order to clarify some aspects of relativistic controversies both old and new. In connection with the examples, we confirm the validity of the relativistic conservation laws. The relativistic examples make clear that external forces may produce a vanishin...

We propose a modification of Maxwell's macroscopic fundamental set of equations in vacuum in order to clarify Faraday's law of induction. Using this procedure, the Lorentz force is no longer separate from Maxwell's equations. The Lorentz transformations are shown to be related to the convective derivative, which is introduced in the electrodynamics of moving bodies. The new formulation is in complete agreement with the actual set of Maxwell's equations for bodies at rest, the...

This communication is devoted to a brief historical framework and to a comprehensive critical discussion concerning foundational issues of Electrodynamics. Attention is especially focused on the events which, about the end of XIX century, led to the notion of Lorentz force, still today ubiquitous in literature on Electrodynamics. Is this a noteworthy instance of a rule which, generated by an improper simplification of Maxwell-JJ Thomson formulation, is in fact physically unte...

We propose a simple relativistic derivation of the electric and the magnetic fields generated by an electric point charge moving with constant velocity. Our approach is based on the radar detection of the point space coordinates where the fields are measured. The same equations were previously derived in a relatively complicated way2 based exclusively on general electromagnetic field equations and without making use of retarded potentials or relativistic equations

There is actually a mistake in this paper, but it is still a nice try worth a read. It is (not quite) proved that within the framework of Special Relativity, a force exerted on a \emph{classical particle} by a field must be of the form $\yv{E}+\yv{v}\times\yv{B}$, the Lorentz force form. The proof makes use of an action principle in which the action is the sum of a free particle part, and an interaction part.

It is demonstrated how the right hand sides of the Lorentz Transformation equations may be written, in a Lorentz invariant manner, as 4--vector scalar products. This implies the existence of invariant length intervals analogous to invariant proper time intervals. This formalism, making essential use of the 4-vector electromagnetic potential concept, provides a short derivation of the Lorentz force law of classical electrodynamics, the conventional definition of the magnetic f...

Maxwell's equations are formulated in arbitrary moving frames by means of tetrad fields, which are interpreted as reference frames adapted to observers in space-time. We assume the existence of a general distribution of charges and currents in an inertial frame. Tetrad fields are used to project the electromagnetic fields and sources on accelerated frames. The purpose is to study several configurations of fields and observers that in the literature are understood as paradoxes...

By describing the dynamical evolution of a test charged particle in the presence of an electromagnetic field as a succession of infinitesimal Lorentz boosts and rotations it is possible to obtain the Lorentz Force of Electrodynamics. A consequence of this derivation at the classical level is that, given the existence of electric and magnetic fields, the form of the electromagnetic force acting on the particle can be regarded as arising from the geometry of Minkowskian spaceti...

Recently there have been suggestions that the Lorentz force law is inconsistent with special relativity. This is difficult to understand, since Einstein invented relativity in order to reconcile electrodynamics with mechanics. Here we investigate the momentum of an electric charge and a magnetic dipole in the frame in which both are at rest, and in an infinitesimally boosted frame in which both have a common velocity. We show that for a dipole composed of a magnetic monopole-...

This Comment addresses a recent paper by M. Mansuripur (Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 193901 (2012)), who claims that the Lorentz law of force should be abandoned because it violates relativity. The Comment argues that this is not necessarily the case and also takes issue with Manusripur's approach to classical electromagnetism.