Abstract
We discuss the radiation reaction problem for an electric charge moving in flat space-time of arbitrary dimensions. It is shown that four is the unique dimension where a local differential equation exists accounting for the radiation reaction and admitting a consistent mass renormalization (the Lorentz-Dirac equation). In odd dimensions Huygens’s principle does not hold, and, as a result, the radiation reaction force depends on the whole past history of a charge (radiative tail). We show that the divergence in the tail integral can be removed by the mass renormalization only in the theory. In even dimensions higher than four, divergences cannot be removed by the mass renormalization.
- Received 14 December 2001
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.66.025016
©2002 American Physical Society