The Relationship Between the Optomechanical Doppler Force and the Magnetic Vector Potential

Photons are carriers of the electromagnetic force and propagate the electrostatic and magnetic vector potentials. While the electrostatic potential ( ) is agreed to be related to the work needed to move a unit charge in an electrostatic field, the meaning of the magnetic vector potential ( ) has been enigmatic. Here I show that the product of the time derivative of the magnetic vector potential and the charge ( ) of a moving particle can be considered to be the electromagnetic analog of the optomechanical Doppler force that prevents charged particles from accelerating beyond the speed of light. As the velocity of a charged particle approaches the speed of light, the time rate of change of the magnetic vector potential increases and produces a self-induced electrodynamical field that opposes the electrostatic field that accelerates the charged particle. Although magnetism is generally considered to be a relativistic aspect of electricity, here I show that by taking the magnetic vector potential into consideration, one can understand the electrodynamics of moving bodies in terms of real and absolute time.