From First Principles of QED to an Application: Hyperfine Structure of P States of Muonic Hydrogen

Abstract

The purpose of this article is twofold. First, we attempt to give a brief overview of the different application areas of quantum electrodynamics (QED). These include fundamental physics (prediction of atomic energy levels), where the atom may be exposed to additional external fields (hyperfine splitting and g factor). We also mention QED processes in highly intense laser fields, and more applied areas like Casimir and Casimir--Polder interactions. Both the unifying aspects as well as the differences in the the theoretical treatment required by these application areas (such as the treatment of infinities) are highlighted. Second, we discuss an application of the formalism in the fundamentally interesting area of the prediction of energy levels, namely, the hyperfine structure of P states of muonic hydrogen.

7 pages; RevTeX; originally published in Can.J.Phys. in 2011; contains a mini-review section on QED

References in corpus (14)

• Precision physics of simple atoms: QED tests, nuclear structure and fundamental constants
• The Casimir effect within scattering theory
• Production of the Smallest QED Atom: True Muonium (mu^+ mu^-)
• Nonperturbative treatment of double Compton backscattering in intense laser fields
• Correlated two-photon emission by transitions of Dirac-Volkov states in intense laser fields: QED predictions
• Self-energy correction to the hyperfine splitting and the electron g factor in hydrogen-like ions
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• Recursive algorithm for arrays of generalized Bessel functions: Numerical access to Dirac-Volkov solutions
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• Calculation of Hydrogenic Bethe Logarithms for Rydberg States
• Quantum electrodynamic corrections to the hyperfine structure of excited S states
• Entanglement correlations, Bell inequalities, and the concurrence
• QED corrections of order alpha (Zalpha)^2 E_F to the hyperfine splitting of P_1/2 and P_3/2 states in hydrogenlike ions
• Separation of Transitions with Two Quantum Jumps from Cascades