Atomic radiative corrections without QED: role of the zero-point field



Document title: Atomic radiative corrections without QED: role of the zero-point field
Journal: Revista mexicana de física
Database: PERIÓDICA
System number: 000365769
ISSN: 0035-001X
Authors: 1
1
1
Institutions: 1Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Física, México, Distrito Federal. México
Year:
Season: Sep-Oct
Volumen: 59
Number: 5
Pages: 433-443
Country: México
Language: Inglés
Document type: Artículo
Approach: Analítico, teórico
English abstract We derive the atomic radiative corrections predicted by QED using an alternative approach that offers the advantage of physical clarity and transparency. The element that gives rise to these corrections is the fluctuating zero-point radiation field (ZPF) of average energy per mode, which —in contrast with QED— is taken here as a primordial real entity in permanent interaction with matter and responsible for its quantization. After briefly recalling how quantum mechanics itself emerges as a result of the balance between the ZPF and radiation reaction, the most important higher-order effects of the radiative terms on the atom are studied. The nonrelativistic QED formulas for the lifetimes and the Lamb shift, as well as the corrections to the latter due to external factors that modify the vacuum field, are thus obtained in a self-consistent approach and without the need to resort to second quantization to the present order of approximation
Disciplines: Física y astronomía
Keyword: Física,
Correcciones radiativas,
Efecto Lamb atómico,
Curso de la vida atómica,
Campo punto cero
Keyword: Physics and astronomy,
Physics,
Radiative corrections,
Atomic Lamb shift,
Atomic lifetimes,
Zero point field
Full text: Texto completo (Ver PDF)