Electric charge in hyperbolic motion: The early history and other geometrical aspects

TL;DR

This paper reviews the historical development of hyperbolic motion in electrodynamics, emphasizing geometrical aspects and advocating for a time symmetric formulation involving infinitesimal elements.

Contribution

It revisits early foundational work and introduces a geometrical perspective with a time symmetric approach using infinitesimal elements.

Findings

Enhanced understanding of hyperbolic motion in electrodynamics

Advantages of time symmetric formulation demonstrated

Geometrical aspects clarified and linked to early theories

Abstract

We revisit the early work of Minkowski and Sommerfeld concerning hyperbolic motion, and we describe some geometrical aspects of the electrodynamic interaction. We discuss the advantages of a time symmetric formulation in which the material points are replaced by infinitesimal length elements.