Axion-modified photon propagator, Coulomb potential and Lamb-shift
Abstract
A consistent renormalization of a quantum theory of axion-electrodynamics requires terms beyond the minimal coupling of two photons to a neutral pseudoscalar field. This procedure is used to determine the self-energy operators of the electromagnetic and the axion fields with an accuracy of second-order in the axion-diphoton coupling. The resulting polarization tensor is utilized for establishing the axion-modified Coulomb potential of a static pointlike charge. In connection, the plausible distortion of the Lamb-shift in hydrogenlike atoms is established and the scopes for searching axionlike particles in high-precision atomic spectroscopy and in experiments of Cavendish-type are investigated. Particularly, we show that these hypothetical degrees of freedom are ruled out as plausible candidates for explaining the proton radius anomaly in muonic hydrogen. A certain loophole remains, though, which is linked to the nonrenormalizable nature of axion-electrodynamics.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1806.10940,
title = {Axion-modified photon propagator, Coulomb potential and Lamb-shift},
author = {Selym Villalba-Chávez and Alina Golub and Carsten Müller},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1806.10940},
year = {2018}
}
Comments
16 pages, 10 figures