On Fermi’s Resolution of the “4/3 Problem” in the Classical Theory of the Electron

Abstract

We discuss the solution proposed by Fermi to the so called “4/3 problem” in the classical theory of the electron, a problem which puzzled the physics community for many decades before and after his contribution. Unfortunately his early resolution of the problem in 1922–1923 published in three versions in Italian and German journals (after three preliminary articles on the topic) went largely unnoticed. Even more recent texts devoted to classical electron theory still do not present his argument or acknowledge the actual content of those articles. The calculations initiated by Fermi at the time are completed here by formulating and discussing the conservation of the total 4-momentum of the accelerated electron as seen from the instantaneous rest frame in which it is momentarily at rest.