The Runaway's Timescale: The Classical Electron's Assumed Step, Priced
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Classical electromagnetism's electron carries a wound it has carried since Abraham and Lorentz: a point charge's self-energy diverges, a finite charge's self-energy must be added to its mass by hand, and the radiation-reaction equation built to balance the books — the Abraham–Lorentz equation — admits runaway solutions that accelerate forever and pre-acceleration solutions that respond before the force arrives. This paper evaluates the assumed step at the wound's center with scripted compute: the theory assumes a charge distribution whose size it never derives, and every pathology timescale is that assumed size worn as a time. The runaway e-folds on τ₀ = 6.266425×10⁻²⁴ s. The frame's own grain — the sever's cell time τ_cell = 2.216789×10⁻²⁴ s, owned by an unrelated line of work — sits a factor of 2.826803 below it. That proximity is printed as a correlation to be investigated, not a derivation, and the paper claims nothing more.
Author: Aldred, William Alexander
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225392855