Ritz ballistic theory

On the assumption of an emission theory, the force acting between two moving charges should depend on the density of the messenger particles emitted by the charges (${\displaystyle D}$), the radial distance between the charges (ρ), the velocity of the emission relative to the receiver, (${\displaystyle U_{x}}$ and ${\displaystyle U_{r}}$ for the x and r components, respectively), and the acceleration of the particles relative to each other (${\displaystyle a_{x}}$). This gives us an equation of the form:[3]

${\displaystyle F_{x}=eD\left[A_{1}cos(\rho x)+B_{1}{\frac {U_{x}U_{r}}{c^{2}}}+C_{1}{\frac {\rho a_{x}}{c^{2}}}\right]}$.

where the coefficients ${\displaystyle A_{1}}$, ${\displaystyle B_{1}}$ and ${\displaystyle C_{1}}$ are independent of the coordinate system and are functions of ${\displaystyle u^{2}/c^{2}}$ and ${\displaystyle u_{\rho }^{2}/c^{2}}$. The stationary coordinates of the observer relate to the moving frame of the charge as follows

${\displaystyle X+x(t')=X'+x'(t')-(t-t')v'_{x}}$

Developing the terms in the force equation, we find that the density of particles is given by

${\displaystyle D\alpha {\frac {dt'e'dS}{\rho ^{2}}}=-{\frac {e'\partial \rho }{c\rho ^{2}\partial n}}dSdn}$

The tangent plane of the shell of emitted particles in the stationary coordinate is given by the Jacobian of the transformation from ${\displaystyle X'}$ to ${\displaystyle X}$:

${\displaystyle {\frac {\partial \rho }{\partial n}}={\frac {\partial (XYZ)}{\partial (X'Y'Z')}}={\frac {ae'}{\rho ^{2}}}\left(1+{\frac {\rho a'_{\rho }}{c^{2}}}\right)}$

We can also develop expressions for the retarded radius ${\displaystyle \rho }$ and velocity ${\displaystyle U_{\rho }<\rho >}$ using Taylor series expansions

${\displaystyle \rho =r\left(1+{\frac {ra'_{r}}{c^{2}}}\right)^{1/2}}$

${\displaystyle \rho _{x}=r_{x}+{\frac {r^{2}a'_{x}}{2c^{2}}}}$

${\displaystyle U_{\rho }=v_{r}-v'_{r}+{\frac {ra'_{r}}{c}}}$

With these substitutions, we find that the force equation is now

${\displaystyle F_{x}={\frac {ee'}{r^{2}}}\left(1+{\frac {ra'_{r}}{c^{2}}}\right)\left[Acos(rx)\left(1-{\frac {3ra'_{r}}{2c^{2}}}\right)+A\left({\frac {ra'_{x}}{2c^{2}}}\right)-B\left({\frac {u_{x}u_{r}}{c^{2}}}\right)-C\left({\frac {ra'_{x}}{c^{2}}}\right)\right]}$

Next we develop the series representations of the coefficients

${\displaystyle A=\alpha _{0}+\alpha _{1}{\frac {u^{2}}{c^{2}}}+\alpha _{2}{\frac {u_{r}^{2}}{c^{2}}}+...}$

${\displaystyle B=\beta _{0}+\beta _{1}{\frac {u^{2}}{c^{2}}}+\beta _{2}{\frac {u_{r}^{2}}{c^{2}}}+...}$

${\displaystyle C=\gamma _{0}+\gamma _{1}{\frac {u^{2}}{c^{2}}}+\gamma _{2}{\frac {u_{r}^{2}}{c^{2}}}+...}$

With these substitutions, the force equation becomes

${\displaystyle F_{x}={\frac {ee'}{r^{2}}}\left[\left(\alpha _{0}+\alpha _{1}{\frac {u_{x}^{2}}{c^{2}}}+\alpha _{2}{\frac {u_{r}^{2}}{c^{2}}}\right)cos(rx)-\beta _{0}{\frac {u_{x}u_{r}}{c^{2}}}-\alpha _{0}{\frac {ra'_{r}}{2c^{2}}}+\left({\frac {ra'_{x}}{2c^{2}}}\right)(\alpha _{0}-2\gamma _{0})\right]}$

Since the equation must reduce to the Coulomb force law when the relative velocities are zero, we immediately know that ${\displaystyle \alpha _{0}=1}$. Furthermore, to obtain the correct expression for electromagnetic mass, we may deduce that ${\displaystyle 2\gamma _{0}-1=1}$ or ${\displaystyle \gamma _{0}=1}$.

To determine the other coefficients, we consider the force on a linear circuit using Ritz's expression, and compare the terms with the general form of Ampere's law. The second derivative of Ritz's equation is

${\displaystyle d^{2}F_{x}=\sum _{i,j}{\frac {de_{i}de_{j}'}{r^{2}}}\left[\left(1+\alpha _{1}{\frac {u_{x}^{2}}{c^{2}}}+\alpha _{2}{\frac {u_{r}^{2}}{c^{2}}}\right)cos(rx)-\beta _{0}{\frac {u_{x}u_{r}}{c^{2}}}-\alpha _{0}{\frac {ra'_{r}}{2c^{2}}}+{\frac {ra'_{x}}{2c^{2}}}\right]}$

Diagram of elements of linear circuits

Consider the diagram on the right, and note that ${\displaystyle dqv=Idl}$,

${\displaystyle \sum _{i,j}de_{i}de_{j}'=0}$

${\displaystyle \sum _{i,j}de_{i}de_{j}'u_{x}^{2}=-2dqdq'w_{x}w'_{x}}$

${\displaystyle =-2II'dsds'cos\epsilon }$

${\displaystyle \sum _{i,j}de_{i}de_{j}'u_{r}^{2}=-2dqdq'w_{r}w'_{r}}$

${\displaystyle =-2II'dsds'cos(rds)cos(rds)}$

${\displaystyle \sum _{i,j}de_{i}de_{j}'u_{x}u_{r}=-dqdq'(w_{x}w'_{r}+w'_{x}w_{r})}$

${\displaystyle =-II'dsds'\left[cos(xds)cos(rds)+cos(rds)cos(xds')\right]}$

${\displaystyle \sum _{i,j}de_{i}de_{j}'a'_{r}=0}$

${\displaystyle \sum _{i,j}de_{i}de_{j}'a'_{x}=0}$

Plugging these expressions into Ritz's equation, we obtain the following

${\displaystyle d^{2}F_{x}={\frac {II'dsds'}{r^{2}}}\left[\left[2\alpha _{1}cos\epsilon +2\alpha _{2}cos(rds)cos(rds')\right]cos(rx)-\beta _{0}cos(rds')cos(xds)-\beta _{0}cos(rds)cos(xds')\right]}$

Comparing to the original expression for Ampere's force law

${\displaystyle d^{2}F_{x}=-{\frac {II'dsds'}{2r^{2}}}\left[\left[(3-k)cos\epsilon -3(1-k)cos(rds)cos(rds')\right]cos(rx)-(1+k)cos(rds')cos(xds)-(1+k)cos(rds)cos(xds')\right]}$

we obtain the coefficients in Ritz's equation

${\displaystyle \alpha _{1}={\frac {3-k}{4}}}$

${\displaystyle \alpha _{2}=-{\frac {3(1-k)}{4}}}$

${\displaystyle \beta _{0}={\frac {1+k}{2}}}$

From this we obtain the full expression of Ritz's electrodynamic equation with one unknown

${\displaystyle \mathbf {F} ={\frac {q_{1}q_{2}}{4\pi \epsilon _{0}r^{2}}}\left[\left[1+{\frac {3-k}{4}}\left({\frac {v}{c}}\right)^{2}-{\frac {3(1-k)}{4}}\left({\frac {\mathbf {v\cdot r} }{c^{2}}}\right)^{2}-{\frac {r}{2c^{2}}}(\mathbf {a\cdot r} )\right]{\frac {\mathbf {r} }{r}}-{\frac {k+1}{2c^{2}}}(\mathbf {v\cdot r} )\mathbf {v} -{\frac {r}{c^{2}}}(\mathbf {a} )\right]}$

In a footnote at the end of Ritz's section on Gravitation ([4] English translation) the editor says, "Ritz used k = 6.4 to reconcile his formula (to calculate the angle of advancement of perihelion of planets per century) with the observed anomaly for Mercury (41") however recent data give 43.1", which leads to k = 7. Substituting this result into Ritz's formula yields exactly the general relativity formula." Using this same integer value for k in Ritz's electrodynamic equation we get:

${\displaystyle \mathbf {F} ={\frac {q_{1}q_{2}}{4\pi \epsilon _{0}r^{2}}}\left[\left[1-\left({\frac {v}{c}}\right)^{2}+4.5\left({\frac {\mathbf {v\cdot r} }{c^{2}}}\right)^{2}-{\frac {r}{2c^{2}}}(\mathbf {a\cdot r} )\right]{\frac {\mathbf {r} }{r}}-{\frac {4}{c^{2}}}(\mathbf {v\cdot r} )\mathbf {v} -{\frac {r}{c^{2}}}(\mathbf {a} )\right]}$

• Fritzius, Robert S. (2001). "Abbreviated Biographical Sketch of Walter Ritz (1878–1909)". In Hsu, Jong-Ping; Zhang, Yuan-Zhong (eds.). Lorentz and Poincaré Invariance: 100 Years of Relativity. World Scientific. pp. 572–573. ISBN 978-981-281-098-4.
• Martínez, Alberto A. (2004). "Ritz, Einstein, and the Emission Hypothesis". Physics in Perspective. 6 (1): 4–28. Bibcode:2004PhP.....6....4M. doi:10.1007/s00016-003-0195-6. S2CID 123043585.