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mass equivalence of charged field?Posted by alen on August 10, 2003 at 07:06:47: A charged particle with a spherically symmetrical field has energy associated with the field. The energy of a spherical surface, for example, within the field, is calculated as the work done to assemble the surface charge density from a condition in which it is imagined to have been dispersed at infinity. The following website appears to give a good description of this: The point I consider here is that the total field energy is a 'rest energy' of the particle. If this is called E, we can say that E/c2 is the mass equivalent of this field energy. If this is an equivalent of 'rest mass', apart from the ordinary mass of a particle, then a massless charged particle should also have the velocity of light as a limiting velocity in the same way as a particle with ordinary rest mass. This consideration is important for the general understanding of bosons, as it would imply that only massless and chargeless bosons can travel at the velocity of light. Does anyone have an argument against this? I have not adopted a definite position as to whether this is the right view or not. Alen Follow Ups: (Reload page to see most recent)
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