Coulomb field of an accelerated charge: Physical and mathematical aspects.

Abstract

The Coulomb field of a charge static in an accelerated frame has properties that suggest features of electromagnetism which are different from those in an inertial frame. An illustrative calculation shows that the Larmor radiation reaction equals the electrostatic attraction between the accelerated charge and the charge induced on the surface whose history is the event horizon. A spectral decomposition of the Coulomb potential in the accelerated frame suggests the possibility that the distortive effects of this charge on the Rindler vacuum are akin to those of a charge on a crystal lattice. The necessary Maxwell field equations relative to the accelerated frame, and the variational principle from which they are obtained, are formulated in terms of the technique of geometrical gauge-invariant potentials.