1997/01/14 by C. Codirla, C Codirla, H. Osborn
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum and Classical Electrodynamics #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1006/aphy.1997.5708
published as Annals Phys. 260 (1997) 91-116 · 24 pages, 1 figure, plain tex, uses harvmac, epsf
arxiv created 1997/01/14 · openalex publication_date 1997/10/01 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The role of the conformal group in electrodynamics in four space-time dimensions is re-examined. As a pedagogic example we use the application of conformal transformations to find the electromagnetic field for a charged particle moving with a constant relativistic acceleration from the Coulomb electric field for the particle at rest. We also re-consider the reformulation of Maxwell's equations on the projective cone, which is isomorphic to a conformal compactification on Minkowski space, so that conformal transformations, belonging to the group O(4,2), are realised linearly. The resulting equations are different from those postulated previously and respect additional gauge invariances which play an essential role in ensuring consistency with conventional electrodynamics on Minkowski space. The solution on the projective cone corresponding to a constantly accelerating charged particle is discussed.