Abstract
For an accurate theoretical description of muonic bound systems, it is crucial to consistently treat relativistic and recoil corrections to vacuum polarization. The one-loop vacuum-polarization effect is by far the dominant quantum electrodynamic (QED) energy correction for bound muons, being of order α(Zα)2mr, where α is the fine-structure constant, Z is the nuclear charge number, and mr is the reduced mass. Gauge invariance of the relativistic and recoil corrections to vacuum polarization of order α(Zα)4mr is investigated with respect to nonretarded and standard, renormalized variants of Coulomb gauge. The invariance is shown after including three-photon exchange diagrams. Our derivation is based on an adapted form of nonrelativistic quantum electrodynamics for bound muon systems (NRQEDμ), which is a version of NRQED where the hard scale is set at the muon mass instead of the electron mass. Updated values for the gauge-independent corrections for one-muon ions with nuclear charge numbers Z=1,2,6 are presented.
Recommended Citation
G. S. Adkins and U. D. Jentschura, "Relativistic and Recoil Corrections to Vacuum Polarization in Muonic Systems: Three-Photon Exchange, Gauge Invariance, and Numerical Values," Physical Review A, vol. 110, no. 3, article no. 032816, American Physical Society, Sep 2024.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.110.032816
Department(s)
Physics
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
2469-9934; 2469-9926
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2024 American Physical Society, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Sep 2024
Comments
National Science Foundation, Grant PHY-2308792