#Physicsfactlet (88)
A charge emits radiation when accelerated, so we can apparently tell if the charge is in free fall or not, violating the equivalence principle.
Solution: the charge will still be at thermal equilibrium with the vacuum, which will look hotter (Unruh effect).
No, the real solution is that radiative behavior is fundamentally non-local. Whether a charge is radiating cannot be determined by examining its immediate vicinity, but only in the far-field limit. So the equivalence principle, which concerns only local physics, does not apply.
-
-
You can detect radiation in the near field, no problem with that. People do it routinely.
-
Because Maxwell's equations admit homogeneous solutions, they cannot determine a unique electromagnetic field from a given charge-current distribution until and unless suitable boundary conditions are imposed. And boundary conditions are, by definition, non-local.
- 22 more replies
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.