Abstract

The Abraham-Lorentz equation and its problem of runaway solutions have been with us for more than a century. During that time many authors have considered the problem. In 1984, John Lewis, Robert O’Connell and I brought something new: the recognition that an electron interacting with the blackbody electromagnetic field is a thermodynamic system. This implied that the equation of motion is a quantum Langevin equation describing not only dissipation (radiation reaction) but also fluctuations. These fluctuations are necessarily present, having the same source as the dissipation.

© 2014 Optical Society of America