Single-Particle Electrodynamics - Assassination Science

tron. The proton and neutron clearly have structure—arguably described
quite well by quarks and gluons,—but may in many situations be considered
approximately “elementary”.
These are the “particles” the author has in mind when talking of “Single-
Particle Electrodynamics”—although they will rarely be referred to by name
again. Rather, this thesis considers the question of obtaining the correct
theoretical equations of motion, according to classical electrodynamics, for
idealised pointlike particles, carrying various electromagnetic moments. Although
practical applications are at all times uppermost in the author’s mind,
the explicit consideration of such applications lies, in general, outside the
scope of this thesis.
In this chapter, we review various aspects of classical particle mechanics
that will be used in the remainder of this thesis. Emphasis is placed on
those aspects of the mathematical framework that are, in the view of the
author, either contentious, not widely appreciated, or cumbersomely formulated;
results that are well-known, and not under challenge, are simply listed
for convenience—the reader being referred to standard texts (e.g., [96, 113])
for elaboration.
2.2 Point particles
For simplicity and practicality, this thesis is, ultimately, concerned with
the classical behaviour of point particles: particles of zero spatial extent.
(See Section A.3.15.) Following the guidelines of Section 2.1, we do not concern
ourselves with the question of whether any physical particles are, in
fact, pointlike, but rather simply note that concentrating our attention to
point particles both leads to considerable simplification of the equations of
motion, and is found to be in practice a most useful approximation.
It should be noted, in passing, that it is not correct to use the adjectives
pointlike and structureless interchangeably, and such practice should
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