A New Tool for the Lamb Shift Calculation

Abstract

We solve the Bethe-Salpeter equation for hydrogenic bound states by choosing an appropriate interaction kernel $K_c$. We want to use our solution to calculate up to a higher order the hydrogen Lamb-shift, and as a first application we present up to order $\left(å/ π\right)(\za)^7$ the contribution of the lowest order self-energy graph, calculated {\it exactly}. The basic formalism is a natural extension to the hydrogenic bound states of the one previously presented by R. Barbieri and E. Remiddi and used in the case of positronium.

21 pages, Latex, Preprint DFUB-94-03