  Starting from delay equations that model field retardation effects, we study
the origin of runaway modes that appear in the solutions of the classical
equations of motion involving the radiation reaction force. When retardation
effects are small, we argue that the physically significant solutions belong to
the so-called slow manifold of the system and we identify this invariant
manifold with the attractor in the state space of the delay equation. We
demonstrate via an example that when retardation effects are no longer small,
the motion could exhibit bifurcation phenomena that are not contained in the
local equations of motion.
