The absorber hypothesis of electrodynamics

TL;DR

This paper investigates the absorber hypothesis in electrodynamics, showing it forbids bounded motions in a two-particle universe and discussing implications for point charge theories.

Contribution

It provides a specific analysis of the absorber hypothesis's constraints on bounded solutions in finite-particle electrodynamics.

Findings

Absorber hypothesis forbids bounded motions with two charges.

Condition alone does not prevent bounded motions in larger systems.

Implications discussed for various point charge electrodynamics theories.

Abstract

We test the absorber hypothesis of the action-at-a-distance electrodynamics for globally-bounded solutions of a finite-particle universe. We find that the absorber hypothesis forbids globally-bounded motions for a universe containing only two charged particles, otherwise the condition alone does not forbid globally-bounded motions. We discuss the implication of our results for the various forms of electrodynamics of point charges.