Time‐Symmetric Action‐at‐a‐Distance Electrodynamics and the Structure of Space‐Time

Abstract

This paper begins with a critical analysis of the concept of 'material point particle'. We argue that this concept is incompatible with the force laws of action-at-a-distance electrodynamics, and we suggest that the trajectory of a particle (the world-line) should be looked upon as a string in static equilibrium. By complementing our model with a time symmetric interaction law, we are led to a straightforward derivation of the principles underlying the electromagnetic interaction between two uniformly moving charged particles. An extension of our theory to the case of particles in arbitrary motion shows that we have to modify Maxwell's equations of the microscopic electromagnetic field, in order to accommodate a field-strength tensor which is no longer antisymmetric. It is further argued that the radiation reaction force gives another example of a 4-force which is not orthogonal to the 4-velocity, thus leading to a variable rest mass. The variation of the rest mass is then discussed from the point of view of the equivalence principle of general relativity, and we end up with a theoretical derivation of the homogenous Maxwell's equations.