Application of the bound state formalism to positronium

Conference · Thu Jun 15 04:00:00 EDT 1989 · AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (USA)

OSTI ID:6965671

Adkins, G S ^[1]

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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--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (USA) Journal Volume: 189:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640303* -- Atomic
Molecular & Chemical Physics-- Positronium
Muonium
& Muonic & Mesic Atoms & Molecules
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
BETHE-SALPETER EQUATION
BOUND STATE
ELECTRODYNAMICS
ENERGY LEVELS
EQUATIONS
FIELD THEORIES
FUNCTIONS
GREEN FUNCTION
GROUND STATES
PERTURBATION THEORY
POSITRONIUM
QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
RENORMALIZATION
S STATES