A classical model of the spinning electron is proposed in which this particle is the source of the Kerr-Newman field. The electron is regarded as a charged rotating shell endowed with surface tension. It is the boundary where the exterior Kerr-Newman solution is matched to the interior flat spacetime metric. The shell is the surface of an oblate ellipsoid of revolution having a minor axis equal to the classical electron radius and a focal distance of the order of the corresponding Compton wavelength. This surface is undergoing rigid rotation with its equator at a velocity almost equal to the velocity of light. The arrangement of charges gives rise to a quadrupole electric moment, in addition to the magnetic dipole moment of the current distribution. The whole spacetime of this model is shown to be causally well behaved.

• Received 20 March 1984

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.30.313