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Radially Acting, Relative Spin Phase and Polarization Modulated, Inverse Square
Law Magnetic Force Between Spinning Charged Particles
David C. Lush
d.lush@comcast.net
(Dated: September 30, 2014)
The nature of the magnetic interaction is investigated for two classical point charge particles
separately undergoing circular motion at the speed of light to account for the particles intrinsic
spin. It is found that the magnetic force between the particles has a radial component that depends
inversely on the separation between the centers of motion of the two charges, is up to the same
magnitude as the Coulomb force, and is modulated by the relative orientation of the spins, as well
as the phase dierence of the circular motion of one particle relative to the other.
PACS numbers: 41.20.-q, 31.15Gy, 45.05.+x
I. INTRODUCTION
The electron model to be considered here consists of
a point charge undergoing circular motion with veloc-
ity the speed of light. This model, sometimes called the
zitterbewegung model, has been proposed by several au-
thors [14]. It is able, where the classical model of spin-
ning spherical shell of charge fails, to provide a magnetic
dipole moment of the observed value, for an electron with
physical size consistent with observation.
An analysis of the electromagnetic structure of the zit-
terbewegung electron by Rivas [5] shows that if the ra-
dius of the circular motion is such to obtain an average
magnetic moment consistent with observation, then the
average electric eld is purely radial, isotropic (except
in the plane of the zitter motion, where it is undened)
and consistent in magnitude with the electron, and falls
o inverse-squarely with distance sucently far from the
center of the circular motion. Rivas also shows that at
sucient distance the time average magnetic accelera-
tion eld of the zitterbewegung electron is consistent with
that of an ideal magnetic dipole.
In this paper the analysis of the electromagnetic eld
structure of the zitterbewegung electron is extended to
consider the magnetic interaction between two zitterbe-
wegung particles that are widely separated compared to
the scale of the circular zitterbewegung motion of each
particle. Because the second particle is moving at the
speed of light in a eld that is of the same magnitude
as a Coulomb eld of a fundamental charge, the mag-
netic interaction has nominally the same strength as the
Coulomb interaction. However, it is modulated both by
the relative orientation of circular zitterbewegung mo-
tions and the relative phase of the circular motions. Fur-
thermore, the relevant phase dierence is distance depen-
dent, because it is between the test particle present-time
phase and the eld source particle retarded-time phase.
II. ZITTERBEWEGUNG ELECTRON MODEL
Because the electron mass, intrinsic angular momen-
tum and associated magnetic moment are known, it is a
simple matter to determine what radius of circular mo-
tion is consistent with these features if the electron ve-
locity is that of light.
The angular momentum of a particle moving with ve-
locity v and having momentum P, around a point dis-
placed from the particle by r, is
L = r P = r mv, (1)
where = (1 (v
2
/c
2
)
1/2
with v = |v| and c the
velocity of light, and m is a mass such that m is the
observed electron mass m
e
, even in the limit as v ap-
proaches c arbitrarily closely. For the circular orbital
motion of the zitterbewegung model with radius R
0
,
L = L

L = R
0
mv

L. (2)
Taking L as the electron intrinsic angular momentum
/2 and v = c obtains the zitterbewegung radius as
R
0
=

2m
e
c
. (3)
The diameter of the zitterbewegung orbit that has an-
gular momentum /2 is thus one Compton wavelength.
III. ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD OF A
RELATIVISTICALLY CIRCULATING CHARGE
The electromagnetic eld due to a point charge, for
arbitrary motion of the charge, can be determined from
the Lienard-Wiechert potentials. The electric and mag-
netic elds for an arbitrarily moving charge q
s
obtained
from the retarded Lienard-Wiechert potentials may be
expressed as [6]
2
E(r, t) = q
s

2
(1 n)
3
R
2

ret
+
q
s
c

(n )

(1 n)
3
R

ret
, (4)
and
B(r, t) = [n E]
ret
, (5)
where n is a unit vector in the direction of the eld
point r from the instantaneous position of the eld-source
charge to the eld point, is the velocity of the charge
divided by the speed of light, and R is the magnitde of
the displacement from the charge to the eld point. The
subscript ret indicates that quantities in the brackets
are evaluated at the retarded time.
A. Average radial component of electric eld of a
zitterbewegung electron
Here the Lienard-Wiechert retarded electric accelera-
tion eld is evaluated for the source charge undergoing
the zitter motion. This is a step in evaluating the mag-
netic force between two zitterbewegung particles. It is of
separate interest because it can be numerically integrated
[4] to show that the average over a zitter cycle of the elec-
tric acceleration eld of the stationary zitter electron has
the same magnitude and inverse-square range behavior
as the Coulomb eld of a stationary charge.
The Lienard-Wiechert retarded electric acceleration
eld at time, t, and eld point, r, from Eq. (4) is
E
acc
(r, t) =
q
s
c

(n )

(1 n)
3
R

ret
. (6)
To evaluate the eld for the stationary zitter electron,
it is convenient to suppose that the center of the zitter
motion is the origin of a Cartesian coordinate system, so
that r is the vector displacement from the center of the
zitter motion of the source charge to the eld point. Then
dene k as the vector displacement from the zitter center
to the charge instantaneous position. Thus k = R
0

k
where

k is a unit vector. Also, a = c|

| = c
2
/R
0
. It
will be convenient to dene the plane of the motion as
the x-y plane of a Cartesian coordinate system, and then

k = [cos t, sint, 0] with = c/R

0
.
If R is the displacement from the instantaneous charge
position to the eld point, then n R/R, or
n =
r k
(r
2
2r k + (R
0
)
2
)
1/2
=
r R
0

k
r(1 2r k/r
2
+ (R
0
/r)
2
)
1/2
(7)
(and note that R = (r
2
2R
0
r

k +R
0
2
)
1/2
= r(1 2 r

k +
2
)
1/2
) with = R
0
/r. With a =

k, and a = z,
(n ) a =
r

k
r(1 2 r

k +
2
)
1/2
z (8)
and, with

k z = , and using the vector identity a (b c) = (a c) b (a b) c,
n ((n ) a) =

k r
(1 2 r

k +
2
)

r z +
(1 2 r

k +
2
)
1/2
. (9)
Eq. (6) now becomes
E
acc
(r, t) =
q
s
R
0
(1 n)
3
R

k r
(1 2 r

k +
2
)
+
r z +
(1 2 r

k +
2
)
1/2

, (10)
To see the inverse square of distance character of the time-averaged electric acceleration eld intensity, it is useful
to consider the behavior of the eld on the z-axis, i.e., perpendicular to the plane of the zitter motion of the source
charge. When r = z, then r

k = r z = 0 and
3
E
acc
(r, t) =
q
s
R
0
(1 n)
3
R

k z
(1 +
2
)
+

(1 +
2
)
1/2

. (11)
On the z-axis, also, n is constant and small in magnitude as z becomes much larger than R
0
. The unit vectors
and average to zero over a cycle of the zitter motion. The average electric acceleration eld is thus
< E
acc
(r = z z) >=
q
s
R
0
(1 n)
3
R

z
(1 +
2
)

=
q
s
(1 n)
3
r
2

z
(1 +
2
)
3/2

. (12)
Rivas [4] has numerically integrated the electric acceleration eld to nd the average at points o the z-axis, and
at near as well as distant separation from center of the zitter motion. The average eld is isotropic at distances large
compared to the zitter radius for all point o the x-y plane, where (1 n) can vanish and the electric eld average
cannot be calculated.
B. Radially-Directed Inverse-Square Law Magnetic Interaction Between Zitterbewegung Electrons
Here the results of the previous section are extended to nd the magnetic force on a test charge. At the end, it will
be supposed that the test charge is also circulating at the speed of light at the same frequency as the source charge,
but the change in position of the test particle will be neglected. The force that results is interesting because it has a
radial component that can be expected to have an inverse-square dependence when averaged over a zitterbewwegung
cycle, and that has the same magnitude as the Coulomb force, when the zitter motion of the test particle is exactly
in phase with the source particle for both the retarded and advanced paths. Otherwise, the force is modulated by the
phase dierences.
The magnetic acceleration eld part of the total magnetic eld given by Eq. (5) is
B
accel
= [n E
accel
]
ret
=
q
s
c

(n )

(1 n)
3
R

ret
(13)
and the force on a test particle with charge q
t
and velocity
t
moving in the magnetic acceleration eld is
F
B
=
q
t
q
s
c

t

(n )

(1 n)
3
R

ret
. (14)
With a = v
2
/R
0
= c
2
/R
0
and

= a a/c, the magnetic force on a test particle in arbitrary motion, due to the
acceleration eld of a source particle undergoing the circ ular zitter motion of radius R
0
is then
F
B
=
q
t
q
s
R
0

n [n ((n ) a)]
(1 n)
3
R

ret
. (15)
Taking the cross product of Eq. (9) with n on the left obtains that
n [n ((n ) a)] =
r

k
(1 2 r

k +
2
)
1/2

( r z) +

(1 2 r

k +
2
)
, (16)
and with the vector identity a (b c) = (a c) b (a b) c,
n [n ((n ) a)] =
r

k
(1 2 r

k +
2
)
1/2

( r z) r z

k z

k r

(1 2 r

k +
2
)
. (17)
4
The magnetic acceleration eld of the zitterbewegung particle can now be found from Eq. (13) to be
B
accel
=
q
s
c (1 n)
3
R
r

k
(1 2 r

k +
2
)
1/2

( r z) r z

k z

k r

(1 2 r

k +
2
)
. (18)
The numerator of the quantity inside the large brackets of Eq. (15) can be evaluated using Eq. (17). Taking a
cross product of Eq. (17) with
t
on left obtains that

t
[n [n ((n ) a)]] =

r (
t
r)

k
(1 2 r

k +
2
)
1/2

( r z)
t
r
t
z +

k r

t
z + [(
t
) r (
t
r) ]
2

(
t
)

k

(1 2 r

k +
2
)
. (19)
So, the magnetic force of Eq. (15) will have a radially-directed term
F
r
=
q
t
q
s
R
0

r
(1 n)
3
R(1 +
2
)

ret
=
q
t
q
s
r
r
2

t

(1 n)
3
(1 2 r

k +
2
)
3/2

ret
, (20)
where on the right hand side, r and r have been taken
outside the brackets indicating retardation, because the
center of motion of the zitterbewegung source particle is
assumed to be stationary. For large enough interparticle
separation, << 1 and so
F
r

q
t
q
s

t
r
(1 n)
3
r
2
, (21)
where all non-constant quantities on the right should
be understood to be at the retarded time, except for
t
.
On the z-axis n is zero, so
F
r

q
t
q
s

t

s,ret
r
r
2
, (22)
where is rewritten as
s,ret
to emphasize its associ-
ation with the source particle and at the retarded time.
To make a preliminary assessment of how the magnetic
force radial term will aect the motion of a zitterbewe-
gung test particle, the test particle may be supposed to
be executing a circular motion similar to that of the eld
source particle, and also at the speed of light so that

t
= 1. For simplicity, suppose they have the same ra-
dius of motion, R
0
, and suppose both particles have their
zitter motion in the x-y plane and in the same direction.
Also, while strictly r is directed from the source particle
center of motion toward a eld point moving with the
test particle, for interparticle separation large compared
to R
0
, i.e., half of a Compton wavelength, it is reasonable
to disregard the change in position of the test particle as
it moves in its zitter orbit, and consider only its velocity
direction time dependence. Then, with = t,

t

s,ret
= [sin, cos , 0] [sin( +), cos( +), 0]
(23)
where is the phase dierence of the test particle
present time zitter motion to the retarded-time source
particle zitter motion. Carrying out the multiplication
obtains that

t

s,ret
= cos . (24)
Thus, depending on the zitter phase dierence between
the particles, for aligned spins, the magnetic force may
either entirely cancel or eectively double the Coulomb
force between the particles. This result can be readily
generalized to non-aligned spins.
Finally, its worth a brief examination of how the
change in the source particle zitter phase induced by re-
tardation might inuence the test particle motion under
the combination of electric and magnetic forces. Suppose

0
is the instantaneous phase dierence between the zit-
ter motions. Then,
= (r
ret
) =
0
+
R
ret
c
=
0
+
R
ret
R
0
. (25)
Therefore, over the course of an interparticle distance
change by an amount equal to times the Compton
wavelength 2R
0
of the particles, the magnetic force radial
term of Eq. (20) will undergo a full cycle of modulation.
Also, because the radial magnetic force can have a mag-
nitude up to as large as the Coulomb force between two
5
static charges of the same magnitude, it can be expected
to signicantly inuence the motion.
Detailed analysis of the dynamical inuence on classi-
cal zitterbewegung particles of the magnetic force is out-
side the scope of the present paper. Of course, there are
many other magnetic force terms other than the radial
term examined here. However many of them can be ex-
pected to average to zero over a zitter cycle, or become
insignicant after averaging at some distance. Numerical
averaging and other modeling should be straightforward.
Rivas numerical technique for time averaging over a zit-
terbewegung cycle can be extended to include the motion
of the test particle and applied here. Further, it should
be possible to numerically propagate the motions of the
two zitterbewegung particles given arbitrary initial con-
ditions.
IV. DISCUSSION
It seems remarkable that acceleration elds falling o
explicitly only inversely with distance can lead for the zit-
terbewegung model charged particle to an inverse square
eld of the same strength as the Coulomb eld. This was
found previously by Rivas. However, for relativistic par-
ticles the magnetic interaction is the same strength as the
electrical, and so the nding that zitter particles can in-
teract magnetically with a strength similar to a Coulomb
interaction should not be surprising. Then, that the in-
teraction should depend on the relative orientation and
relative phase of the zitter motions follows naturally. In
total, though, the magnetic interaction via acceleration
elds might provide a simple physical mechanism to cause
certain states of motion in microscopic systems such as
atoms to be preferred over others. Indeed, in more ab-
stract terms, other authors [79] have related the possible
internal phase of the spin to quantum behavior.
The magnetic interactions found here are also found in
the time symmetric electrodynamics picture where the
total eld acting is the mean of the retarded and ad-
vanced elds [1012]. It may therefore also be relevant
to more mathematically rigorous electrodynamic analy-
ses taking precise and time-symmetric account of delay
[1315].
V. CONCLUSION
A preliminary evaluation of the magnetic force be-
tween two relativistically-circulating point charge parti-
cles has been performed. It was found that the mag-
netic interaction between such particles has a radially-
directed component with a strength equal to that of the
Coulomb interaction, except that it is modulated by the
relative orientation of particle circulatory motions, and
their propagation-delayed phase dierence. This type of
interaction might nd application in eorts to explain
quantum behavior using only classical physics.
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