On Irreversibility and Radiation in Classical Electrodynamics of Point Particles

TL;DR

This paper reevaluates Wheeler-Feynman electrodynamics, questioning the absorber condition's relevance and emphasizing the importance of the effective description of particles for understanding irreversibility and radiation.

Contribution

It challenges the traditional interpretation of the absorber condition and clarifies the role of effective particle descriptions in classical electrodynamics.

Findings

The absorber condition may not be essential for explaining irreversibility.

Effective descriptions of particles are crucial for understanding radiation phenomena.

The paper offers a reinterpretation of Wheeler-Feynman theory's relevance.

Abstract

The direct interaction theory of electromagnetism, also known as Wheeler-Feynman electrodynamics, is often misinterpreted and found unappealing because of its reference to the absorber and, more importantly, to the so-called absorber condition. Here we remark that the absorber condition is indeed questionable and presumably not relevant for the explanation of irreversible radiation phenomena in our universe. What is relevant and deserves further scrutiny is the emergent effective description of a test particle in an environment. We therefore rephrase what we consider the relevant calculation by Wheeler and Feynman and comment on the status of the theory.