The electron as a steady-state confinement system

An extended Lorentz invariant electromagnetic theory includes the additional degree of freedom provided by a nonzero electric charge density and an associated electric field divergence in the vacuum state. The theory is applied to an electron model of a steady electromagnetic state. Three new physical features come out of this analysis. First, a steady equilibrium can be established, by which the electron is prevented from "exploding" under the action of its self-charge, as otherwise being predicted by conventional theory. Second, a variational analysis with imposed subsidiary quantum conditions ends up in a parameter range where the deduced charge becomes nearly equal to the experimentally determined elementary charge. Independently of this, the radial balance of forces in the equilibrium state leads to a value of the charge in the same range, thereby deviating by only one percent from the experimental one. Third, this deviation may possibly become removed by a quantum mechanical correction. If this would come out to be true, the elementary free charge would no longer remain an independent constant of nature, but becomes determined by the velocity of light, Planck's constant, and the dielectric constant only.