Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society
Volume 2010 (2010), Article ID 602784, 36 pages
doi:10.1155/2010/602784
Research Article

Simulation of the Radiation Reaction Orbits of a Classical Relativistic Charged Particle with Generalized Off-Shell Lorentz Force

Aviad Roitgrund1 and Lawrence Horwitz1,2,3

1School of Physics, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel
2Department of Physics, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel
3Physcis Department, Ariel University Center of Sameria, Ariel 40700, Israel

Received 2 June 2010; Accepted 4 October 2010

Academic Editor: Marko Robnik

Copyright © 2010 Aviad Roitgrund and Lawrence Horwitz. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

We review the formulation of the problem of electromagnetic self-interaction of a relativistic charged particle in the framework of the manifestly covariant classical mechanics of Stueckeleberg, Horwitz, and Piron. The gauge fields of this theory, in general, cause the mass of the particle to change. We study the four dynamical off-mass-shell orbit equations which result from the expansion of Green's function in the Lorentz force equation for the self-interaction. It appears that there is an attractor in this system which stabilizes the motion of the relativistic charged electron. The attractor may acquire fractal characteristics in the presence of an external field and thus become a strange attractor.