Quantization of Wheeler-Feynman electrodynamics

Abstract

In a recent letter, Katz, Oran and Schwartz (KOS) have argued that our treatment of spontaneous emission deviates from the classical Wheeler-Feynman (WF) prescription. They base their argument on the form of the interaction term e_b∫A^(a)_ret[(b(t)]·b(t)dt (1) where A^(a)_ret is the retarded potential arising from the motion of the source particle a, and b(t) is the path of a typical absorber particle b. Written in this form (1) denotes the retarded effect of e_b∫A^(a)_ret[(b(t)]·b(t)dt=2e_ae_b∫∫δ(S²_ΛB)a^.(t')·b^.(t)dtdt'=e_a∫A^(b)_adv[a(t')]·a^.(t')dt' (2) particle a on particle b. KOS, however, rewrite (1) in the form and argue that (2) represents the advanced effect of b on a.