English

Relativistic dynamics of accelerating particles derived from field equations

Classical Physics 2015-05-30 v4

Abstract

In relativistic mechanics the energy-momentum of a free point mass moving without acceleration forms a four-vector. Einstein's celebrated energy-mass relation E=mc^2 is commonly derived from that fact. By contrast, in Newtonian mechanics the mass is introduced for an accelerated motion as a measure of inertia. In this paper we rigorously derive the relativistic point mechanics and Einstein's energy-mass relation using our recently introduced neoclassical field theory where a charge is not a point but a distribution. We show that both the approaches to the definition of mass are complementary within the framework of our field theory. This theory also predicts a small difference between the electron rest mass relevant to the Penning trap experiments and its mass relevant to spectroscopic measurements.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1110.4949,
  title  = {Relativistic dynamics of accelerating particles derived from field equations},
  author = {Anatoli Babin and Alexander Figotin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1110.4949},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

A few typos were corrected

R2 v1 2026-06-21T19:24:08.617Z