Radiation reaction of a classical quasi-rigid extended particle

Abstract

The problem of the self-interaction of a quasi-rigid classical particle with an arbitrary spherically symmetric charge distribution is completely solved up to the first order in the acceleration. No ad hoc assumptions are made. It is shown that most of the puzzles that this problem has aroused are due to the inertia of the negative pressure that equilibrates the electrostatic repulsion inside the particle. When the inertia of pressure is taken into account the dressed mass turns out to be the bare mass plus the electrostatic mass m=m_0 + m_e. It is shown that a proper mechanical behaviour requires that m_0 > m_e/3. This condition poses a lower bound on the radius that a particle of a given bare mass and charge may have. The violation of this condition is the reason why the Lorentz-Abraham-Dirac formula for the radiation reaction of a point charge predicts unphysical motions that run away or violate causality. Provided the mass condition is met the solutions of the exact equation of motion never run away and conform to causality and energy and momentum conservation. When the radius is much smaller than the wave-length of the radiated fields, but the mass condition is still met, the exact expression reduces to the formula that was advocated recently by Rohrlich.