English

An approximation to the Lamb shift and hyperfine splitting as nonlinear effective Coulomb-like interactions in the Dirac equation

Quantum Physics 2007-05-23 v1

Abstract

The Dirac equation for the Coulomb problem is restated by incorporating a nonlinear effective interaction into the Dirac Hamiltonian: one keeps the 1/r1/r dependence for the Coulomb field, but the coupling constant is modified by a factor depending on the n (principal quantum number) power of the mean value of the Hamiltonian. In this simple context we study the Lamb shift and the hyperfine splitting of the s-levels of hydrogenic atoms. We discuss to what extent the corresponding calculations fit the energy splittings to the appropriate order in the fine structure constant.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.quant-ph/9905063,
  title  = {An approximation to the Lamb shift and hyperfine splitting as nonlinear effective Coulomb-like interactions in the Dirac equation},
  author = {S. Bruce and J. Diaz-Valdes},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/9905063},
  year   = {2007}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-22T20:06:13.464Z