A point particle of charge $q$ and mass $m$ moves in an electromagnetic field with 4 -vector potential $A_{\mu}(x)$, where $x^{\mu}$ is position in spacetime. Consider the action

$$S=-m c \int\left(-\eta_{\mu \nu} \frac{d x^{\mu}}{d \lambda} \frac{d x^{\nu}}{d \lambda}\right)^{1 / 2} d \lambda+q \int A_{\mu} \frac{d x^{\mu}}{d \lambda} d \lambda$$

where $\lambda$ is an arbitrary parameter along the particle's worldline and $\eta_{\mu \nu}=\operatorname{diag}(-1,+1,+1,+1)$ is the Minkowski metric.

(a) By varying the action with respect to $x^{\mu}(\lambda)$, with fixed endpoints, obtain the equation of motion

$$m \frac{d u^{\mu}}{d \tau}=q F_{\nu}^{\mu} u^{\nu} \text {, }$$

where $\tau$ is the proper time, $u^{\mu}=d x^{\mu} / d \tau$ is the velocity 4-vector, and $F_{\mu \nu}=\partial_{\mu} A_{\nu}-\partial_{\nu} A_{\mu}$ is the field strength tensor.

(b) This particle moves in the field generated by a second point charge $Q$ that is held at rest at the origin of some inertial frame. By choosing a suitable expression for $A_{\mu}$ and expressing the first particle's spatial position in spherical polar coordinates $(r, \theta, \phi)$, show from the action $(*)$ that

$$\begin{aligned} \mathcal{E} & \equiv \dot{t}-\Gamma / r \\ \ell c & \equiv r^{2} \dot{\phi} \sin ^{2} \theta \end{aligned}$$

are constants, where $\Gamma=-q Q /\left(4 \pi \epsilon_{0} m c^{2}\right)$ and overdots denote differentiation with respect to $\tau$.

(c) Show that when the motion is in the plane $\theta=\pi / 2$,

$$\mathcal{E}+\frac{\Gamma}{r}=\sqrt{1+\frac{\dot{r}^{2}}{c^{2}}+\frac{\ell^{2}}{r^{2}}}$$

Hence show that the particle's orbit is bounded if $\mathcal{E}<1$, and that the particle can reach the origin in finite proper time if $\Gamma>|\ell|$.