The electric charge and magnetic moment of neutral fundamental particles

TL;DR

This paper explores the distinctions between gauge and effective charges of fundamental particles, highlighting scenarios where neutral particles acquire charge from their environment and discussing the concept of induced charge.

Contribution

It clarifies the difference between gauge and effective charges and introduces the concept of induced charge for neutral particles in plasma environments.

Findings

Gauge and effective charges are identical for intrinsically charged particles.

Neutral particles can acquire charge from plasma surroundings.

The scope of induced charge concept is discussed.

Abstract

The article focuses on the issue of the two definitions of charge, mainly the gauge charge and the effective charge of fundamental particles. Most textbooks on classical electromagnetism and quantum field theory only works with the gauge charges while the concept of the induced charge remains unattended. In this article it has been shown that for intrinsically charged particles both of the charges remain the same but there can be situations where an electrically neutral particle picks up some electrical charge from its plasma surrounding. The physical origin and the scope of application of the induced charge concept has been briefly discussed in the article.