Minimizers with discontinuous velocities and variational electrodynamics of point charges.

• Grant number: 10/20722-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2011
• End date: February 29, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Physics of Fluids, Plasma Physics and Electrical Discharge
• Principal Investigator: Jayme Vicente de Luca Filho
• Grantee: Guilherme Tomishiyo Teixeira de Sousa
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

We shall study Wheeler-Feynman electrodynamics, in particular searching for continuous periodic orbits with discontinuous velocities. This is the usual solution expected of a neutral differential equation. We shall attempt to classify the orbits where the interaction is small and the solutions can be piecewise constant-velocity.