Home

Search

Collections

Journals

About

Contact us

My IOPscience

Average Lorentz self-force from electric field lines

This content has been downloaded from IOPscience. Please scroll down to see the full text.
2015 Eur. J. Phys. 36 055012
(http://iopscience.iop.org/0143-0807/36/5/055012)
View the table of contents for this issue, or go to the journal homepage for more

Download details:
This content was downloaded by: asrar_haq
IP Address: 111.93.5.194
This content was downloaded on 27/06/2015 at 04:28

Please note that terms and conditions apply.

European Journal of Physics

Eur. J. Phys. 36 (2015) 055012 (11pp)

doi:10.1088/0143-0807/36/5/055012

Average Lorentz self-force from electric

eld lines
Sandeep Aashish and Asrarul Haque
Department of Physics, BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus, Hyderabad-500078, AP, India
E-mail: sandeepaashish@gmail.com and ahaque@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in
Received 1 January 2015, revised 17 May 2015
Accepted for publication 28 May 2015
Published 26 June 2015
Abstract

We generalize the derivation of electromagnetic elds of a charged particle

moving with a constant acceleration Singal (2011 Am. J. Phys. 79 1036) to a
variable acceleration (piecewise constants) over a small nite time interval
using Coulombs law, relativistic transformations of electromagnetic elds and
Thomsons construction Thomson (1904 Electricity and Matter (New York:
Charles Scribners) ch 3). We derive the average Lorentz self-force for a
charged particle in arbitrary non-relativistic motion via averaging the elds at
retarded time.
Keywords: electric eld lines, Thomsons construction, self-force

1. Introduction
The electromagnetic elds [1] of a charged particle moving with a constant acceleration are
obtained exploiting Coulomb force, relativistic transformations of electromagnetic elds and
Thomsons construction [2]. The derivation of the elds for an accelerated charge is carried
out in the instantaneous rest frame. The geometry of the Thomsons construction makes it
evident that elds pick up the transverse components proportional to acceleration in addition
to the radial components. The electromagnetic elds so obtained turn out exactly the same as
those obtained via LienardWeichert potentials. This method is mathematically simpler than
the usual method [3] of computing the electromagnetic elds which involves rather cumbersome calculations.
However, the one downside to this method is that it is not sufcient to calculate the
radiation reaction force. The derivation of radiation reaction involves non-uniform acceleration of the charged particle.
In this paper, we address the question as to how to calculate the EM elds for a charged
particle moving with a variable acceleration (piecewise constants) over a small nite time
interval t using relativistic transformations of elds E and B , Coulomb eld of a stationary
0143-0807/15/055012+11$33.00 2015 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK

Eur. J. Phys. 36 (2015) 055012

S Aashish and A Haque

charge as well as Thomsons construction. Consider a charge moving with piecewise different
constant accelerations in time interval t . The charge moving with piecewise N(say) different
constant accelerations over time interval t enables us to use the relativistic transformations
of elds E and B of a uniformly moving charge through N small time sub-intervals t N
(say). The electromagnetic elds at some space and time points are obtained by time-averaging out the elds stemming from the piecewise N different constantly accelerated motions
of the charge through N temporal sub-intervals t N .
A charged particle moving with non-uniform acceleration radiates. A radiating charged
particle experiences a force which acts on the charge particle and is called as self-force. The
Lorentz self-force [3] (p 753) arising due to a point charge conceived as a uniformly charged
spherical shell of radius s is given by

=
Fself

2 q2
2 q2
+
v
t
v (t ) + O (s) with
(
)

3 40 c 2s
3 40 c3

s = s,

(1)

where,
the quantity

q2
2
3 40 c 2 s
+,

in the rst term stands for electromagnetic mass and becomes

divergent as s 0
the second term represents the radiation reaction and is independent of the dimension of
the charge distribution and
the third term corresponds to the rst nite size correction and is proportional to the
radius of the shell s.
It is plausible to expect that the piecewise N different constantly accelerated motions of
the charge through N temporal sub-intervals t N could give rise to the average self-force.
We derive the average Lorentz self-force for the charged particle in arbitrary non-relativistic
motion via averaging the said retarded elds [4].
2. Preliminary
In this section, we shall briey discuss about the relativistic transformations of the elds and
Thomsons construction [2]. We shall further discuss and summarize the results on the
electromagnetic eld of a constantly accelerated charge in the instantaneous rest frame [1] and
self-force [4].
!
!
2.1. Relativistic transformations of E and B of a uniformly moving charge

Let us consider two frames S and S. Let S is moving with constant velocity v = c relative
to S. Suppose a particle of charge q moves with a velocity v relative to S. The charged particle
would thus appear to be at rest with respect to the system S.
The electric E and magnetic elds [6] B of the charged particle in frame S is related to the
electric E and magnetic elds B of the charged particle in the frame S as follows:

E = E + E B , B = B + B + E
E = E + E + B , B = B + B E .

(2)

In case, the charged particle moves with non-relativistic speed << 1 i.e. 1, E and B
eld transformations simplify to yield:
2

Eur. J. Phys. 36 (2015) 055012

S Aashish and A Haque

E = E B , B = B + E

(3)

E = E + B , B = B E .

(4)

In S frame, eld is purely electric as the charge is at rest with respect to the system S.
Therefore,

B = 0, E = E and B = E .

(5)

Now, suppose that the charged particle is moving along the Z-axis ( = 0 ) i.e. = z , then
in the spherical polar coordinates (R, , ), we have

e2
E = E R R = 2 R ,
R
E = E R R =

(6)

e2
R ,
R 2

(7)

B = E = E = B =

e sin
.
R2

(8)

Now, E = E implies that R = R where R is the distance between the eld point and the
location of the charge in the frame S.
2.2. Thomsons construction

Consider a charged particle, initially moving with a constant velocity vI , suffers a change in
velocity after the time interval (0, ) to a constant velocity vF . Suppose the charged particle
undergoes an acceleration to a small velocity v (v << c ) for the short time . Arguments
due to Thompson, regarding the resulting eld distribution in terms of the electric eld lines
after time t = T, attached to the accelerated charge are summarized as follows:
For any time t < 0, elds are that of the charge moving with constant velocity vI . The
electric eld lines will emanate radially outward from the charge in all possible
directions. The information pertaining to the change in motion (acceleration) cant reach
outside a sphere of radius R = cT.
For any time 0 < t < , elds are that of the charge undergoing acceleration. The electric
eld lines will admit distortions in the form of a kink in a region between the two spheres
S1 and S2(as shown in gure 1 ) in order to preserve the continuity of the eld lines. Thus,
the elds would now begin to pick up the tangential component in addition to the radial
one. The information pertaining to the change in motion is conned in the spatial region
cT < R < c (T ).
For any time t > elds are that of the charge moving with constant velocity vF . The
electric eld lines will emanate radially outward from the charge in all possible
directions. The information pertaining to the change in motion cant reach inside a sphere
of radius R = c (T ).
2.3. Electromagnetic field of the constantly accelerated charge [1]

Consider a charged particle moving in a lab-frame S. Suppose the charge is moving with a
constant initial velocity v0 . Let the charge be uniformly accelerated a for a short time interval
( t 2, t 2) to a velocity v (v << c ) so that its velocity become v1 (constant). The
velocity of the charge at t = 0 is v = (v0 + v1 ) 2 .
3

Eur. J. Phys. 36 (2015) 055012

S Aashish and A Haque

Figure 1. Electric eld line as per Thomsons construction exhibiting the kink in

between the spherical surfaces S1 and S2 corresponding to the acceleration of the

charge.

Consider a (instantaneous rest) frame S moving with velocity v = (v0 + v1 ) 2 relative to

frame S. The initial and nal velocities say v0 and v1 respectively of the charged particle
relative to frame S turn out equal and opposite v1 = v0 v (say ). For convenience, S
could be rotated (rotation can be undone at the end) so that the charge motion is along the
horizontal axis.
Suppose the charge be instantaneously at rest at O at t = 0 . During the time of
acceleration t, the charge moves a distance at2 8 towards O for time t 2 and then
turns back for the remaining time. To the rst order in t, charge could be assumed to be
practically at rest at O. Consider the elds of the charge at time T >> t. Let O1 and O2 (for
N = 1) be the positions of the charge at T t 2 and T + t 2 respectively. The electric
eld in the regions c (T + t 2) < r < c (T t 2) would be in the radial direction from
the points O1 and O2. We wish to calculate the electric eld in the region
c (T t 2) < r < c (T + t 2) which possesses the information of the change in
motion of the charge.
Geometrically, it is obvious from the Thomsons construction (for N = 1 as shown in
gure 1), that the eld now picks up both the radial (Er) as well as the transverse components
(E ) both at A and P. The spatial variation in the transverse components of electric eld over
a distance r from A to P turns out,
E
e sin
.
(9)
=
c
r
r 2
The formal solution of (9) at P (r, t ) assuming that eld falls to zero as r leads to
e sin
.
(10)
E =
cr

Eur. J. Phys. 36 (2015) 055012

S Aashish and A Haque

Figure 2. A schematic of the motion of a piecewise constantly accelerated charge. The

particle moves with different constant velocities for times N t as well as with different

constant accelerations for times

accelerated regions.

(1 ) t
.
N

The shallow curved paths belong to the

The total electric eld at P (r, t ) could be written as:

q
q
r +
E =
r 2
c2

( r v) .

(11)

The transformation of the eld from S to S yields:

E = q

r 2 2 1 r

q
+
c

{ ( r ) } .

r 1 r

v
<< 1 i.e. 1), the expression for E takes the form:
c

r
r
r
q
.
+
3
3
c
1 r
r 1 r

(12)

In the non-relativistic case (

{(

E = q
r2

(13)

2.4. Results of the self-force [4]

A simple derivation of the self-force [4] based on the consideration that the averaged value of
the eld in the suitably small closed region surrounding the point charge is the value of the
eld under consideration at the position of the point charge is carried out in detail. The selfforce is dened as:

( r , t ) = q Lim E ( r , t ) = qESelf
( r , t ) ,
FSelf
+

(14)

s0

where E (r , t )) is average eld over the surface of a spherical shell of radius s and the eld
E (r , t ) depends upon the position and motion of the charge particle at the retarded time.
Using the eld due to an accelerated charged particle (in the limit v c 0), the self force
turns out:
5

Eur. J. Phys. 36 (2015) 055012

S Aashish and A Haque

Figure 3. Motion of a piecewise constantly accelerated charge as observed in the

instantaneous rest frames Si. The charge moves with initial velocity vi and nal
velocity vi in the frame Si.

( r , t ) =
FSelf

2 q2
a (t s c )
Lim
.

3 40 c 2 s 0 +
s

(15)

3. Calculation of average electric eld

Consider a charge moving with an initial velocity v0 in the lab frame S (as shown in gure 2).
Suppose it undergoes accelerations from t 2 to t 2. We consider that the acceleration in
the time interval t is not continuous but rather consists of a series of a nite number of
different piecewise constant accelerations. Let us divide the total time interval t into a large
number 2N (N 2) of sub-intervals. Suppose all the odd and even sub-intervals are of lengths
(1 ) t N and t N respectively. We consider that the charge undergoes non-zero constant accelerations in the odd sub-intervals accompanied by non-zero constant velocities in
the even sub-intervals. Accelerations {ai (i ) : i = 1, 3, 5, , 2N 1} and velocities
{vi (t ) : i = 0, 2, , 2N} are dened as:

a i ( i ti 1 ) ( ti i ); i = 1, 3, 5, , 2N 1
a i ( i ) =
0,
( ti < i < ti + 1 ); i = 0, 2, , 2 N

vi + 1 (t ) = vi +

t
2

t
2

a i + 1 ( i )di; i = 0, 2, , 2N ,

(16)

(17)

where

ti =

1
i
+
t ; i = 0, 2, , 2 N .
2
2N
1
i + 1 2
t ; i = 1, 3, 5, , 2N 1.
+

2
2N

The charge undergoes through various different piecewise constant accelerations in the
time interval t . In order to determine the EM elds of an accelerated charge over t , we
require as many instantaneous rest-frames as that of the different constant accelerations.
6

Eur. J. Phys. 36 (2015) 055012

S Aashish and A Haque

Figure 4. Electric eld line O3 FGHI as per Thomsons construction exhibiting the
kink in between the innermost and the outermost spherical surfaces corresponding to
the accelerated motion of the charge. The thin annular region between the spherical
surfaces belongs to the non-accelerated motion of the charge.

These instantaneous rest-frames could be obtained by appropriate boosts. Let us consider the
ith instantaneous rest-frame {Si : i = 1, 3, 5, , 2N 1}(as shown in gure 3) moving
with velocity {v S i = (vi + vi + 1 ) 2 : i = 1, 3, 5, , 2N 1}. We assume that
vi + 1 vi << c . Suppose the charged particle appears to be instantaneuosly at rest at
t + ti+1
; i = 0, 2, , 2N 2) where
( i
2
1
i

+
t ; i = 0, 2, , 2 N .

2
2N
ti =
1 + i + 1 2 t ; i = 1, 3, 5, , 2N 1.

2N
2
Thomsons construction for N = 2 is shown in the gure 4. In gure 4, points B1 and A1 stand
for the begining and end of accelerations with regards to theinstantanous rest frames S1. The
electric elds along O2 B2 and O3 A2 are inclined at small angle 1 with respect to OP . In the
frame Si, the corresponding transformed velocities vi 1 and vi +1 are given by:

vi +1 = vi 1 = vi (say).

(18)

The acceleration in Si reads:

a i =

2vi
.
(1 ) t N

(19)

Without any loss of generality, we take the orientation of Si such that motion happens along
Z i. The calculation of Ei in Si proceeds in a similar way to that in the section 2.3. At the point
7

Eur. J. Phys. 36 (2015) 055012

S Aashish and A Haque

Figure A1. Piecewise constant accelerations having smooth change at the temporal

boundaries.

P, the charge is instantaneously at rest with respect to the origin O. The electric eld Ei at a
later time T >> t N at P is obtained as:

Ei =

q
q n n i
n +
.
c
r
r 2

In the above expression, we have made use of

Oi Bi Oi+1 Ai OP = r ; i = 1, 2, , N
as is small. Transformation of Ei to the lab frame S for the non-relativistic velocity
( i 0, 1) yields:

q
q n n i

,
Ei = n +
c
r
r2
ai ( i )

where, n = r and i = c . The quantities r and i on the right hand side are evaluated at
retarded time, t Ri = i r c . The electric eld at P

q n + q n n i ; i = 1, 3, , 2N 1
2
c
r
Ei = r
q
n; i = 0, 2, , 2 N .

r2
In fact consists of N number of piecewise different values of Ei belonging to 2N 1 subintervals over t . It is therefore plausible to consider the electric eld at P in the vicinity of a
point in time as the time-averaged value E of the electric elds Ei for the entire time t . The
time-averaged electric eld is obtained as:
8

Eur. J. Phys. 36 (2015) 055012

S Aashish and A Haque

t
2

E =

N
i=1 Ei dt
t
2

t
2

=
For <<

1
N

i=1 E2 i 1

dt

t
2

1

t + E 2 i t
N
N
t

q
q n n 2 i 1

c
r
N
i=1 r

t
, we have:
N

q
E = n +
2
c
r

n n

q n n 2 i 1
.

c
r
i=1
N

(20)

(21)

where

1
c

t
2

t
2

a 2 i 1 ( 2i 1 )d2i 1
=

i=1

a 2 i 1 ( 2i 1 )
c
.
N

(22)

4. Calculation of the self force

The self force of a charge moving with arbitrary velocity, in general, contains acceleration and
higher derivatives of acceleration as is especially obvious from equation (1). A charge moving
q2
2
with constant acceleration does not experience any radiation reaction as the term 3
v (t )
40 c3
vanishes.
In the case at hand, charge is moving with non-zero constant acceleration in the time
interval (1 ) t N whereas with zero acceleration in the time interval t N . Therefore,
the charge conned to these time intervals will not experience any radiation reaction force.
However, over the interval t , the charge moving with various different constant accelerations would give rise to a net change in the acceleration a over t . This suggests that over
the time t , a t is no longer zero, and hence the charge must experience average radiation
reaction. The average self-force [4] may be dened as

( r , t ) =
FSelf

a ( 2i 1 s c )
2 q2
Lim
,
3 40 c 2 s 0 +
s

(23)

where

a 2i 1 ( 2i 1 s c ) = a 2 i 1 ( 2i 1 t2i 2 s c ) ( t2i 1 2i 1 + s c ).
We can Taylor expand a 2 i 1 (2i 1 s c ) about s c so that,

a 2 i 1 ( 2i 1 s c ) = a 2 i 1 ( 2i 1 )

s d
a 2 i 1 ( 2i 1 ) + O s 2
c d2i 1

( )

The self force expression now becomes

( r , t ) =
FSelf

a ( 2i 1 )
2 q2
Lim
3 40 c 2 s 0 +
s

2 q2
a ( 2i 1 ) .
3 40 c3

Eur. J. Phys. 36 (2015) 055012

S Aashish and A Haque

Since,

s
( 2i 1 t2i 2 ) + O s 2
c
s
( t2i 1 2i 1 + s c ) = ( t2i 1 2i 1 ) + ( t2i 1 2i 1 ).
c

( 2i 1 t2i 2 s c ) = ( 2i 1 t2i 2 )

( )

Therefore,
N

a 2 i 1 ( 2i 1 s c) = a 2 i 1 ( 2i 1 t2i 2 ) ( t2i 1 2i 1)
i=1

s
c

i=1
N

a 2 i 1 ( t2i 1 t2i 2 ) [ ( t2i 1 2i 1) ( 2i 1 t2i 2 ) ] + O ( s2)

i=1

It is evident that a 2 i 1 (2i 1 s c ) turns out divergent at the temporal boundaries:

2i 1 = t2i 1 or 2i 1 = t2i 2.
However, the time-averaged self force would render a 2 i 1 (2i 1 s c ) physically sensible.
Moreover, in order to prevent this meaningless results, we assume that the transitions from
non-zero constant acceleration to zero constant acceleration are smooth at the temporal
boundaries (please see appendix for clarication). Such sort of meaningless results arise in
models that involve step functions forces [5]. Now,

( r , t ) =
FSelf

q2
2
a
3 40 c 2 s

2 q2 1

3 40 c3 t
=

t
2

a 2i1 [ ( t2i1 2i1) ( 2i1 t2i2 ) ] d2i1

t
2

i=1

q2

2
2 q2 1
a +
a ,
3 40 c 2 s
3 40 c3 2

(24)

where we have identied

a 2 i 1 a1
a =
.
t
Thus, the time-average radiation reaction stems from the time-averaged acceleration.
5. Conclusion
We derive the electromagnetic elds of a charged particle moving with a variable acceleration
(piecewise constants) over a small nite time interval using Coulombs law, relativistic
transformations of elds and Thomsons construction. We derive the expression for the
average Lorentz self-force for a charged particle in arbitrary non-relativistic motion via
averaging the retarded elds.
Appendix A. A model for piecewise constant and smooth acceleration
In order to have the physically sensible values of a 2 i 1 (2i 1 s c ), we assume that the
transition from non-zero constant acceleration to zero acceleration and viceversa is smooth at
10

Eur. J. Phys. 36 (2015) 055012

S Aashish and A Haque

the temporal boundaries. We can incorporate the smooth change in the acceleration at the
temporal boundaries by dening our acceleration (as shown in gure A1) as follows:

a 2i 1, t2i 2 + 1 i t2i 1 1 ( i = 1, 2, , N. )

a 2i 1

a 2i 1 2 ( i t2i 1 + 1 ), t2i 1 1 i t2i 1

1
a ( i ) =
+ 1 (i = 1, 2, , N 1. )
a 2i 1

( i t2i 1 + 1 ), t2i 2 1 i t2i 2 + 1 (i = 2, 3, , N ).

21
We assume that 21 >> 0, where 0 (see [7]) is dened by

0 =

2 q2
.
3 mc3

Now,

a 2i 1
, t2i 1 1 i t2i 1 + 1 (i = 1, 2, , N 1)

21
a ( i ) =
a 2i 1 , t
2i 2 1 i t2i 2 + 1 (i = 2, 3, , N ).
2

1
The quantity a now turns out:

1
a =
t
=

t
2

a ( i )di
t
2

(A.1)

i=1

a 2 N 1 a1
.
t

(A.2)

References
[1] Singal A K 2011 An ab initio derivation of the electromagnetic elds of a point charge in arbitrary
motion Am. J. Phys. 79 1036
[2] Thomson J J 1904 Electricity and Matter (New York: Charles Scribners) ch 3
[3] Jackson J D 2003 Classical Electrodynamics (New York: Wiley)
[4] Haque A 2014 A simple derivation of Lorentz self-force Eur. J. Phys. 35 055006
[5] Schwinger J, DeRaad L L, Milton K A and Tsai W 1998 Classical Electrodynamics (New York:
Perseus) ch 37
[6] Grifths D J 1999 Introduction to Electrodynamics 3rd edn (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall) section 12.2 and 12.3
[7] Moniz E J and Sharp D H 1977 Phys. Rev. D 15 2850
Rohrlich F 2008 Phys. Rev. E 77 046609

11