Resolution of a paradox in classical electrodynamics
- InterStellar Technologies Corporation, 115 N Fifth Avenue, Monrovia, California 91016 (United States)
It is an early result of electrostatics in curved space that the gravitational mass of a charge distribution changes by an amount equal to U{sub es}/c{sup 2}, where U{sub es} is the internal electrostatic potential energy and c is the speed of light, if the system is supported at rest by external forces. This fact, independently rediscovered in recent years in the case of a simple dipole, confirms a very reasonable expectation grounded in the mass-energy equivalency equation. However, it is an unsolved paradox of classical electrodynamics that the renormalized mass of an accelerated dipole calculated from the self-forces due to the distortion of the Coulomb field differs in general from that expected from the energy correction, U{sub es}/c{sup 2}, unless the acceleration is transversal to the orientation of the dipole. Here we show that this apparent paradox disappears for any dipole orientation if the self-force is evaluated by means of Whittaker's exact solution for the field of the single charge in a homogeneous gravitational field described in the Rindler metric. The discussion is supported by computer algebra results, diagrams of the electric fields distorted by gravitation, and a brief analysis of the prospects for realistic experimentation. The gravitational correction to dipole-dipole interactions is also discussed.
- OSTI ID:
- 20774705
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 73, Issue 10; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.73.104020; (c) 2006 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2821
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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