Perturbative cavity quantum electrodynamics

Book · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:121766

Hinds, E A ^[1]

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1. Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)

Charged particles are coupled to the electromagnetic radiation field at a fundamental level. Even in a vacuum, an atom is perturbed by the zero-point quantum noise of the electromagnetic field, and this coupling is responsible for some basic phenomena such as the Lamb shift and spontaneous radiative decay. These radiative effects can be calculated to high precision using the theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED), and for cases when the atom is in free space, remarkable agreement has been found between theory and experiment. One is led to conclude QED provides a reliable description of the coupling between the charged particles and electromagnetic fields. 101 refs., 20 figs.

• OSTI ID: 121766
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
CAVITIES
ELECTRIC DIPOLE MOMENTS
PERTURBATION THEORY
PHOTON-ATOM COLLISIONS
QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS