Radiation reaction and limiting acceleration

TL;DR

This paper explores the radiation reaction force in strong electromagnetic fields, revealing a new limiting acceleration in the Eliezer-Ford-O'Connell model that bounds radiation emission and differs from traditional models.

Contribution

It introduces a novel limiting acceleration feature in the Eliezer-Ford-O'Connell model, contrasting with the Landau-Lifshitz equation in strong field regimes.

Findings

Identifies an upper limit to particle acceleration in strong fields.

Shows particles emit radiation at a slower rate than predicted by Landau-Lifshitz.

Demonstrates the model's applicability in various electromagnetic configurations.

Abstract

We investigate the strong acceleration properties of the radiation reaction force and identify a new and promising limiting acceleration feature in the Eliezer-Ford-O'Connell model; in the strong field regime, for many field configurations, we find an upper limit to acceleration resulting in a bound to the rate of radiation emission. If this model applies, strongly accelerated particles are losing energy at a much slower pace than predicted by the usual radiation reaction benchmark, the Landau-Lifshitz equation, which certainly cannot be used in this regime. We explore examples involving various "constant" electromagnetic field configurations and study particle motion in a light plane wave as well as in a material medium.