Mid- and far-field deviations from causality in spontaneous light emission by atomic Hydrogen
Quantum Physics
2015-09-07 v1
Abstract
We investigate, in the case of the transition in atomic Hydrogen, the behaviour of the spontaneously emitted electromagnetic field in spacetime. We focus on Glauber's wave function for the emitted photon, a quantity which we find is nonzero outside the lightcone at all times after the start of the emission. We identify the uncertainty on the position of the decaying electron as a source of departure from causality in the naive sense of the term. We carry out a detailed study of the emitted electric field in the mid- and far-field regions, through analytical and numerical computations as well as asymptotic arguments.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1509.01475,
title = {Mid- and far-field deviations from causality in spontaneous light emission by atomic Hydrogen},
author = {Vincent Debierre and Thomas Durt},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1509.01475},
year = {2015}
}