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X.—The Reciprocity Theory of Electrodynamics*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2012

H. S. Green
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
K. C. Cheng
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh

Synopsis

This paper represents the application of the Principle of Reciprocity, formulated in a previous communication, to the outstanding problems of classical and quantum electrodynamics.

The first step consists in the formulation of a reciprocally invariant Lagrangian function for a system of electrons in interaction with the electromagnetic field. A study is made of the unaccelerated motion of an electron, and this is subsequently extended to embrace the problem of an electron in arbitrary motion. It is found that the usual difficulties of classical electrodynamics do not appear. The methods of the earlier paper are applied to the derivation of the Hamiltonian energy of electron and field, and this enables a quantized formulation of the theory to be given, which also does not lead to the usual divergence difficulties.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1951

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