English

Two-loop electron self-energy for low nuclear charges

Atomic Physics 2025-01-08 v1

Abstract

Calculations of the two-loop electron self-energy for the 1S1S Lamb shift are reported, performed to all orders in the nuclear binding strength parameter ZαZ\alpha (where ZZ is the nuclear charge number and α\alpha is the fine structure constant). Our approach allows calculations to be extended to nuclear charges lower than previously possible and improves the numerical accuracy by more than an order of magnitude. Extrapolation of our all-order results to hydrogen yields a result twice as precise as the previously accepted value [E. Tiesinga et al. Rev. Mod. Phys. 93, 025010 (2021)], differing from it by 2.8 standard deviations. The resulting shift in the theoretical prediction for the 1S1S-2S2S transition frequency in hydrogen decreases the value of the Rydberg constant by one standard deviation.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2411.12459,
  title  = {Two-loop electron self-energy for low nuclear charges},
  author = {V. A. Yerokhin and Z. Harman and C. H. Keitel},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2411.12459},
  year   = {2025}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T20:04:56.118Z