The Point-Charge in the Non-symmetric Field Theory

Abstract

GAGANBIHARI BANDYOPADHYAY'S remark¹ about one of the spherically symmetric static solutions, that were given in a paper by one of us², is interesting, but it has not the meaning this author attributes to it. This solution cannot possibly refer to an electric charge at the centre, but only—if to anything electromagnetic—to a magnetic charge, that is, to an isolated magnetic pole. Indeed, the one component to which the six-vector is reduced in this solution is radial and is labelled by the indices 1 (referring to the radial direction) and 4 (referring to time). Now, in contrast to the conventional labelling, the present theory has to identify the electric field with the three components of the six-vector that do not include the index 4 (if the skew part of g_ik is to represent electromagnetism). The reason is that the theory definitely yields one and only one set of four Maxwellian vacuum equations. This set has to enunciate the vanishing of the magnetic four-current, not of the electric one; and this imperatively demands the association of labels indicated above. We may add that the necessity to reverse the convention is very satisfactory and is, in itself, likely to strengthen our confidence in the new theory. Indeed, very good reasons for reversing the conventional association were pointed out by Einstein³ long ago and repeated by one of us⁴ since.