Chapter 11: Q12P (page 487)
An electron is released from rest and falls under the influence of gravity. In the first centimeter, what fraction of the potential energy lost is radiated away?
Short Answer
The fraction of the potential energy lost is .
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Chapter 11: Q12P (page 487)
An electron is released from rest and falls under the influence of gravity. In the first centimeter, what fraction of the potential energy lost is radiated away?
The fraction of the potential energy lost is .
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Equation 11.14 can be expressed in 鈥渃oordinate-free鈥 form by writing . Do so, and likewise for Eqs. 11.17, 11.18. 11.19, and 11.21.
Deduce Eq. 11.100 from Eq. 11.99. Here are three methods:
(a) Use the Abraham-Lorentz formula to determine the radiation reaction on each end of the dumbbell; add this to the interaction term (Eq. 11.99).
(b) Method (a) has the defect that it uses the Abraham-Lorentz formula鈥攖he very thing that we were trying to derive. To avoid this, let be the total d-independent part of the self-force on a charge q. Then
Where is the interaction part (Eq. 11.99), and is the self-force on each end. Now, must be proportional to , since the field is proportional to q and the force is qE. So Take it from there.
(c) Smear out the charge along a strip of length L oriented perpendicular to the motion (the charge density, then, is ); find the cumulative interaction force for all pairs of segments, using Eq. 11.99 (with the correspondence , at one end and at the other). Make sure you don鈥檛 count the same pair twice.
Question: In Ex. 11.3 we assumed the velocity and acceleration were (instantaneously,
at least) collinear. Carry out the same analysis for the case where they are
perpendicular. Choose your axes so that v lies along the z axis and a along the x axis
(Fig. 11.14), so thatCheck that P is consistent with the Lienard formula.
[Answer: .For relativistic velocities ( ) the radiation is again sharply peaked in the forward
direction (Fig. 11.15). The most important application of these formulas is to circular motion-in this case the radiation is called synchrotron radiation. For a relativistic electron, the radiation sweeps around like a locomotive's headlight as the particle moves.]

Calculate the electric and magnetic fields of an oscillating magnetic dipole without using approximation . [Do they look familiar? Compare Prob. 9.35.] Find the Poynting vector, and show that the intensity of the radiation is exactly the same as we got using approximation .
a)Find the radiation reaction force on a particle moving with arbitrary velocity in a straight line, by reconstructing the argument in Sect. 11.2.3 without assuming . [Answer: ]
(b) Show that this result is consistent (in the sense of Eq. 11.78) with the power radiated by such a particle (Eq. 11.75).
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