Why no radiation occurs from a uniformly accelerated charge

Ashok K. Singal

Astronomy and Astrophysics Division, Physical Research Laboratory

We show that in the case of a uniformly accelerated charge, in its instantaneous rest frame, there is only a radial electric field as the acceleration fields strangely get cancelled {em at all distances} by a transverse term of the velocity fields. Consequently, no electromagnetic radiation will be detected by any observer from a uniformly accelerated charge, even in the far-off zone. This is in contradiction with Larmor's formula, according to which a uniformly accelerated charge would radiate power at a constant rate, which is proportional to the square of the acceleration. On the other hand, the absence of radiation from such a charge is in concurrence with the strong principle of equivalence, where a uniformly accelerated charge is equivalent to a charge permanently stationary in a gravitational field, and such a completely time-static system could not be radiating power at all.