Effect of self-interaction on Feynman's interpretation of the Lamb shift

Peter W. Milonni; Paul R. Berman; Kanu Sinha

doi:10.1103/drlx-hrks

Effect of self-interaction on Feynman's interpretation of the Lamb shift

Peter W. Milonni ¹, Paul R. Berman ², and Kanu Sinha ³

¹Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA
²Physics Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1040, USA
³College of Optical Sciences and Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA

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Phys. Rev. A 111, 062208 – Published 11 June, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/drlx-hrks

Abstract

We derive Bethe's formula for the Lamb shift by extending Feynman's suggestion that the shift could be interpreted as the change, due to the presence of the atom, in electromagnetic field energy. This approach is based on measurable quantities such as a refractive index but has a contribution from virtual photon absorption which is effectively eliminated by a high-energy cutoff in the nonrelativistic theory. We show that this unphysical contribution is canceled when a self-interaction energy is included in Feynman's argument.

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Effect of self-interaction on Feynman's interpretation of the Lamb shift

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Effect of self-interaction on Feynman's interpretation of the Lamb shift

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