Put , where is the binding spring constant rather than an optical wavenumber. The steady complex amplitude solution of the forced Lorentz oscillator model is
The acceleration complex amplitude is . Hence
This is the scattering cross-section of a harmonically bound charge. The displacement and induced electric dipole moment are parallel to the incident linear polarization, and integrating their dipole radiation over all directions gives the total cross section above.
For , binding dominates and
recovering Rayleigh scattering with static electric polarizability . For , inertia dominates: , so its second time derivative becomes frequency independent and
This is a classical Thomson scattering regime only while . Exactly at , an undamped driven oscillator has no finite steady-state amplitude; the divergent formula must not be used. Finite damping and radiation reaction regulate the physical resonant response. Coherent contributions from many charges in an extended medium can also require a structure calculation rather than multiplying this single-charge result by a particle count.
After field electron emission, let denote the plate separation of the parallel-plate capacitor, which the question does not specify. The uniform capacitor electric field has magnitude , and a nonrelativistic Electron of mass has constant acceleration magnitude . The sign of its charge affects the direction of the radiation field but not its radiated power.
In the supplied nonrelativistic Liénard-Wiechert field, . At polar angle to the acceleration, , hence
The outgoing Poynting vector has magnitude . Its radiated power per solid angle is therefore
Using gives the Larmor formula and the requested constant power during the uniform-field part of the flight:
The brackets in the given field require the acceleration at retarded time; the radiation reaches the far observer after the propagation delay. This derivation assumes that radiation reaction is a small correction to the acceleration and that the flight is nonrelativistic, for example for release from rest. Entry, emission and impact transients are not described by the uniform-field model. A result solely in terms of cannot be obtained without a plate spacing or a specified internal field.
Let be the sphere's mechanical moment of inertia about its rotation axis, and let . For an undriven rigid sphere the rotational energy is . In the weak-radiation-loss approximation, conservation of energy gives
Integrating gives
Equivalently, the characteristic spin-down time is
The radiative spin-down of a rotating electric dipole therefore has angular frequency that decays as at late times within this model, rather than exponentially. The original paper gives no mass or mass-density profile, so cannot be determined from and the relative permittivity. If a homogeneous solid sphere of mass is additionally assumed, insert ; uniform dielectric response alone does not imply this mechanical mass distribution.
The approximation is important. If the dipole angle is with , direct differentiation gives . Using the constant-frequency radiation law instantaneously neglects the second term and assumes . This gives the standard leading slow spin-down solution above. An exact nonadiabatic radiation reaction evolution would require the mechanical and near-field dynamics beyond the information supplied, rather than treating this leading law as exact at arbitrarily rapid damping.
Radiation reaction 2026-10-18
Radiation reaction is the influence on a source's motion of its own electromagnetic field, including the balance of radiated energy and momentum with changes of the near field. For sufficiently weak radiation loss, an averaged power balance can give the leading damping law without solving the full self-field dynamics. Replacing a constant-frequency radiation formula by its instantaneous slowly varying value requires an additional time-scale assumption; it is not an exact treatment of arbitrarily rapid motion changes.
For a charge of mass bound by spring constant , the undamped equation has complex amplitude . The induced electric dipole moment is . Averaged electric dipole radiation power, divided by incident light intensity, gives
The Rayleigh scattering limit gives , proportional to . For , the charge behaves as free and the Thomson cross-section is recovered. At resonance the undamped steady-state formula is invalid; a finite damping mechanism or radiation reaction must be included. The formula describes independent weakly driven scatterers, not arbitrary coherent scattering from an extended medium.