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QED vacuum polarization in the Coulomb field of a nucleus: A method of high-order calculation

Sergey Volkov*

  • *Contact author: sergey.volkov.1811@gmail.com, volkoff_sergey@mail.ru; svolkov@mpi-hd.mpg.de
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Phys. Rev. A 113, 042823 – Published 28 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/nstc-qqwm

Abstract

A calculation of the quantum electrodynamics (QED) vacuum polarization potential in the Coulomb field of a pointlike nucleus was presented in an earlier publication by the author and his collaborators. Corrections up to order α2(Zα)7 were evaluated, where Z is the nuclear charge number and Zα is treated as an independent variable. These corrections correspond to two-loop Feynman graphs with proper propagators of fermions in the external field. The calculation employed a reduction to free QED, leading to free QED Feynman graphs with up to eight independent loops. The method of calculation is described here in detail.

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Phys. Rev. A 113, 042823– Published 28 April, 2026
  • Received 4 November 2025
  • Accepted 27 March 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Open access publication funded by Max Planck Society.

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