However, Dirac’s solution led to some alarming conclusions. He found that in order for the behaviour of the particles and fields to be determined by their initial data, it is necessary that not only must each particle’s initial position and velocity be known but its initial acceleration must be known too (a somewhat anomalous situation in the context of standard dynamical theories). For most values of this initial acceleration the particle eventually behaves in a completely crazy way, spontaneously accelerating into the distance at a speed that very rapidly approaches the speed of light! These
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