Matt McIrvin on Nostr: I'll have to take a look at that when I have a lot of time... this subject makes my ...

I'll have to take a look at that when I have a lot of time... this subject makes my head spin, and I think part of the problem is that most treatments display some of the paradoxical results, throw up their hands and say "this isn't real anyway, we have to go to the quantum theory," which is a really weak response. Is it just that classical electrodynamics is an inconsistent theory? If so they haven't really shown how.

I always assumed the weird stuff like runaway solutions and anti-causal influences in the Abraham-Lorentz theory were really the price paid for simplifying approximations in the calculation of the self-force, but I haven't seen a rigorous treatment of where they sneak in. And might not have the patience to fully understand it if I did.