Derivation of the Lamb shift using an effective field theory

Nov, 1996
15 pages
Published in:
  • Can.J.Phys. 77 (1999) 267-278
e-Print:
Report number:
  • MCGILL-96-41

Citations per year

1997200320092015202102468
Abstract:
We rederive the O(α 5)O(\alpha~5) shift of the hydrogen levels in the non-recoil (me/mP0m_e/m_P \to 0) limit using Nonrelativistic QED (NRQED), an effective field theory developed by Caswell and Lepage (Phys. Lett. 167B, 437 (1986)). Our result contains the Lamb shift as a special case. Our calculation is far simpler than traditional approaches and has the advantage of being systematic. It also clearly illustrates the need to renormalize (or ``match'') the coefficients of the effective theory beyond tree level.
Note:
  • 15 pages, 11 Postscript figures, uses Latex2e and epsf.tex
  • hydrogen: energy levels
  • radiative correction
  • recoil: 0
  • quantum electrodynamics: nonrelativistic
  • effective Lagrangian
  • vertex function
  • Feynman graph: higher-order