On Electrodynamics of Rapidly Moving Sources

✍ Scribed by R. Pettorino; G.A. Vilkovisky

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 170 KB
• Volume: 292
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-4916
• DOI: 10.1006/aphy.2001.6142

✦ Synopsis

Rapidly moving sources create pairs in the vacuum and lose energy. In consequence of this, the velocity of charged bodies in their center-of-mass frame cannot approach the speed of light closer than a certain limit which depends only on the coupling constant. The vacuum back-reaction secures the observance of the conservation laws. A source can lose up to 50% of energy and charge because of the vacuum instability.