Motion of Charged Particles in Electromagnetic Fields

Abstract

In this chapter we shall consider the motion of a charged particle in various types of electromagnetic field. We shall assume that the force which acts on the particle is the Lorentz force

$$F = q[E + (v \times B)]$$

((7.1))

in our usual notation. We shall also assume that the fields E and B are given, and thus we ignore for the moment the very difficult problem of how the fields produced by the particle itself affect its motion. We shall return to this much more difficult problem in Chapter 9.