Self-energy and Self-force in the Space-time of a Thick Cosmic String

TL;DR

This paper calculates the self-energy and self-force of a charged particle in the spacetime of a thick cosmic string, revealing how these quantities vary with position and providing explicit expressions and numerical results.

Contribution

It derives a general expression for the self-energy in terms of the scattering matrix and analyzes the self-force behavior in the Gott-Hiscock cosmic string spacetime.

Findings

Self-energy is maximum at the string's center and decreases outward.

Self-force is repulsive, zero at the center and far away, with a maximum at the string's surface.

Numerical plots illustrate the variation of self-energy and self-force.

Abstract

We calculate the self-energy and self-force for an electrically charged particle at rest in the background of Gott-Hiscock cosmic string space-time. We found the general expression for the self-energy which is expressed in terms of the $S$ matrix of the scattering problem. The self-energy continuously falls down outward from the string's center with maximum at the origin of the string. The self-force is repulsive for an arbitrary position of the particle. It tends to zero in the string's center and also far from the string and it has a maximum value at the string's surface. The plots of the numerical calculations of the self-energy and self-force are shown.