Abstract

In relativistic mechanics the energy-momentum of a free point mass moving without acceleration forms a four-vector. Einstein’s celebrated energy-mass relation E=mc 2 is commonly derived from that fact. By contrast, in Newtonian mechanics the mass is introduced for an accelerated motion as a measure of inertia. In this paper we rigorously derive the relativistic point mechanics and Einstein’s energy-mass relation using our recently introduced neoclassical field theory where a charge is not a point but a distribution. We show that both the approaches to the definition of mass are complementary within the framework of our field theory. This theory also predicts a small difference between the electron rest mass relevant to the Penning trap experiments and its mass relevant to spectroscopic measurements.