QED is not endangered by the proton's size

Abstract

Pohl et al. have reported a very precise measurement of the Lamb-shift in muonic Hydrogen, from which they infer the radius characterizing the proton's charge distribution. The result is 5 standard deviations away from the one of the CODATA compilation of physical constants. This has been interpreted as possibly requiring a 4.9 standard-deviation modification of the Rydberg constant, to a new value that would be precise to 3.3 parts in $10^{13}$, as well as putative evidence for physics beyond the standard model. I demonstrate that these options are unsubstantiated.

Modified following comments in arXiv:1008.4345v1. 4 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (9)

• Precision physics of simple atoms: QED tests, nuclear structure and fundamental constants
• On the rms-radius of the proton
• Dispersion analysis of the nucleon form factors including meson continua
• Proton structure effects in muonic hydrogen
• Two-Loop Bethe Logarithms
• Proton radii and two-photon exchange
• 2S Hyperfine splitting of muonic hydrogen
• Lamb Shift in Muonic Hydrogen
• Muonic Hydrogen and the Third Zemach Moment

Cited by in corpus (28)

• Theory of the 2S-2P Lamb shift and 2S hyperfine splitting in muonic hydrogen
• The RMS Charge Radius of the Proton and Zemach Moments
• Theoretical Constraints and Systematic Effects in the Determination of the Proton Form Factors
• Nucleon Polarizabilities: from Compton Scattering to Hydrogen Atom
• Model independent extraction of the proton magnetic radius from electron scattering
• Model independent analysis of proton structure for hydrogenic bound states
• Lamb Shift in Muonic Hydrogen. I. Verification and Update of Theoretical Predictions
• Chiral perturbation theory of muonic hydrogen Lamb shift: polarizability contribution
• Atomic Precision Tests and Light Scalar Couplings
• Parameterization and applications of the low-$Q^2$ nucleon vector form factors
• Proton Polarizability Contribution: Muonic Hydrogen Lamb Shift and Elastic Scattering
• The proton structure in and out of muonic hydrogen
• Non-perturbative evaluation of some QED contributions to the muonic hydrogen $\mathbf{n}=2$ Lamb shift and hyperfine structure
• Natural Resolution of the Proton Size Puzzle
• Lamb shift in muonic deuterium atom
• Proton radius puzzle and large extra dimensions
• Hyperfine structure of S-states in muonic deuterium
• Third Zemach Moment of the Proton
• Radiative nonrecoil nuclear finite size corrections of order $\alpha (Z\alpha {)}^5$ to the hyperfine splitting of S-states in muonic hydrogen
• QED confronts the radius of the proton
• Why three-body physics do not solve the proton radius puzzle
• Nonidentical protons
• Muonic bound systems, virtual particles and proton radius
• Radiative and chiral corrections to elastic lepton-proton scattering in chiral perturbation theory
• Breakdown of the expansion of finite-size corrections to the hydrogen Lamb shift in moments of charge distribution
• Nuclear Quasi-Elastic Electron Scattering Limits Nucleon Off-Mass Shell Properties
• Zemach and Friar radii of the proton and neutron from lattice QCD
• Brief review of the theory of the muonic hydrogen Lamb shift and the proton radius