Single-Particle Electrodynamics - Assassination Science

Subsequently, Lyuboshitz [141] showed that the Ternov–Bagrov–Khapaev
result could be simply and intuitively understood as a radiation reaction
spin-flip due to the spontaneous emission of magnetic dipole radiation; but
also noted that a generalisation of his heuristic argument to the case of
charged particles was not trivial. Jackson’s comprehensive review [114] examined
the Lyuboshitz argument in detail, and explained most clearly why
it is essentially completely correct for neutral particles, and almost—but not
quite—correct for charged particles.
Clearly, a phenomenon that is so manifestly an effect of the reaction
of radiation is a suitable test for the author’s results. The fact that the
quantum analysis involves spontaneous radiation warns us that the classical
analysis will not be complete; but nevertheless we would, following
Schwinger [185, 186], expect the dimensional quantities appearing in the results
to be completely classical; the spontaneity of the radiation—essentially
arising through the use of discrete integers rather than continuous reals for
the electromagnetic field—yielding important but dimensionless corrections.
In Section 6.10.1, we briefly review the Sokolov–Ternov effect, followed by
the Ternov–Bagrov–Khapaev effect in Section 6.10.2. Lyuboshitz’s elementary
explanation of the Ternov–Bagrov–Khapaev effect in terms of spin-flip
due to spontaneous radiation is presented in Section 6.10.3, and Jackson’s
comments on both this and the Sokolov–Ternov effect are reviewed in Section
6.10.4. Then, in Section 6.10.5, we consider the question from the point
of view of the equations of the previous section, and compare the results with
those of Lyuboshitz and Jackson.
6.10.1 The Sokolov–Ternov effect
In a six-paragraph note to JETP in 1961 [210], Ternov, Loskutov and Korovina
(with acknowledgments to Sokolov) noted that, due to the fact that a
Dirac electron moving perpendicular to a uniform magnetic field emits “syn-
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