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Application of the bound state formalism to positronium

Conference · · AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (USA)
OSTI ID:6965671
 [1]
  1. Franklin College Marshall College, Lancaster, PA 17604 (USA)

This report contains a discussion of a bound state formalism for QED and its application to positronium. The formalism is based on the Bethe-Salpeter equation for the two-to-two Green's function. The energy levels of positronium are found as poles of this Green's function. A perturbation scheme for the energy levels is set up by comparing the Bethe-Salpeter equation with a soluble reference equation. A useful reference problem is examined, and the reference solution is obtained by comparison with the non-relativistic Schroedinger-Coulomb Green's function. Renormalization effects are discussed. As an example of the use of this formalism, an outline is given of the calculation of the ground state hyperfine splitting of positronium at the {ital O}({ital m}{alpha}{sup 4}) and {ital O}({ital m}{alpha}{sup 5}) levels.

OSTI ID:
6965671
Report Number(s):
CONF-8807162--
Journal Information:
AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (USA), Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (USA) Vol. 189:1; ISSN 0094-243X; ISSN APCPC
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English