Abstract

The Wheeler-Feynman (WF) relativistic theory of interacting point particles, generalized by acceptance of an arbitrary spacelike interaction, is shown to possess a privileged status, reminiscent of the “central force” interactions occurring in Newtonian mechanics. This scheme is shown to be isomorphic to the classical one of the statics of interacting flexible current-carrying wires obeying the Ampère-Laplace (AL) formulas: to the tensionT (T 2 =const) of the wire corresponds the momentum-energy pi (pipi=−c2m2) of the particle; to the Laplace linear force density −iH×dr corresponds the Lorentz force QHij drj; to the Laplace potential ir−1 dr corresponds the WF potential Qδ(r2) dri, etc. Among the differences, there is self-action in the AL scheme and no self-action in the WF scheme. A stationary energy principle in the AL scheme is isomorphic to Fokker's stationary action principle in the WF scheme