Vacuum polarization

About: Vacuum polarization is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2131 publications have been published within this topic receiving 54511 citations.

On gauge invariance and vacuum polarization

Abstract: This paper is based on the elementary remark that the extraction of gauge invariant results from a formally gauge invariant theory is ensured if one employs methods of solution that involve only gauge covariant quantities. We illustrate this statement in connection with the problem of vacuum polarization by a prescribed electromagnetic field. The vacuum current of a charged Dirac field, which can be expressed in terms of the Green's function of that field, implies an addition to the action integral of the electromagnetic field. Now these quantities can be related to the dynamical properties of a "particle" with space-time coordinates that depend upon a proper-time parameter. The proper-time equations of motion involve only electromagnetic field strengths, and provide a suitable gauge invariant basis for treating problems. Rigorous solutions of the equations of motion can be obtained for a constant field, and for a plane wave field. A renormalization of field strength and charge, applied to the modified lagrange function for constant fields, yields a finite, gauge invariant result which implies nonlinear properties for the electromagnetic field in the vacuum. The contribution of a zero spin charged field is also stated. After the same field strength renormalization, the modified physical quantities describing a plane wave in the vacuum reduce to just those of the maxwell field; there are no nonlinear phenomena for a single plane wave, of arbitrary strength and spectral composition. The results obtained for constant (that is, slowly varying fields), are then applied to treat the two-photon disintegration of a spin zero neutral meson arising from the polarization of the proton vacuum. We obtain approximate, gauge invariant expressions for the effective interaction between the meson and the electromagnetic field, in which the nuclear coupling may be scalar, pseudoscalar, or pseudovector in nature. The direct verification of equivalence between the pseudoscalar and pseudovector interactions only requires a proper statement of the limiting processes involved. For arbitrarily varying fields, perturbation methods can be applied to the equations of motion, as discussed in Appendix A, or one can employ an expansion in powers of the potential vector. The latter automatically yields gauge invariant results, provided only that the proper-time integration is reserved to the last. This indicates that the significant aspect of the proper-time method is its isolation of divergences in integrals with respect to the proper-time parameter, which is independent of the coordinate system and of the gauge. The connection between the proper-time method and the technique of "invariant regularization" is discussed. Incidentally, the probability of actual pair creation is obtained from the imaginary part of the electromagnetic field action integral. Finally, as an application of the Green's function for a constant field, we construct the mass operator of an electron in a weak, homogeneous external field, and derive the additional spin magnetic moment of $\frac{\ensuremath{\alpha}}{2\ensuremath{\pi}}$ magnetons by means of a perturbation calculation in which proper-mass plays the customary role of energy.

Extremely high-intensity laser interactions with fundamental quantum systems

Abstract: The field of laser-matter interaction traditionally deals with the response of atoms, molecules, and plasmas to an external light wave. However, the recent sustained technological progress is opening up the possibility of employing intense laser radiation to trigger or substantially influence physical processes beyond atomic-physics energy scales. Available optical laser intensities exceeding ${10}^{22}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{W}/{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ can push the fundamental light-electron interaction to the extreme limit where radiation-reaction effects dominate the electron dynamics, can shed light on the structure of the quantum vacuum, and can trigger the creation of particles such as electrons, muons, and pions and their corresponding antiparticles. Also, novel sources of intense coherent high-energy photons and laser-based particle colliders can pave the way to nuclear quantum optics and may even allow for the potential discovery of new particles beyond the standard model. These are the main topics of this article, which is devoted to a review of recent investigations on high-energy processes within the realm of relativistic quantum dynamics, quantum electrodynamics, and nuclear and particle physics, occurring in extremely intense laser fields.

Space - time approach to quantum electrodynamics

Abstract: In this paper two things are done. (1) It is shown that a considerable simplification can be attained in writing down matrix elements for complex processes in electrodynamics. Further, a physical point of view is available which permits them to be written down directly for any specific problem. Being simply a restatement of conventional electrodynamics, however, the matrix elements diverge for complex processes. (2) Electrodynamics is modified by altering the interaction of electrons at short distances. All matrix elements are now finite, with the exception of those relating to problems of vacuum polarization. The latter are evaluated in a manner suggested by Pauli and Bethe, which gives finite results for these matrices also. The only effects sensitive to the modification are changes in mass and charge of the electrons. Such changes could not be directly observed. Phenomena directly observable, are insensitive to the details of the modification used (except at extreme energies). For such phenomena, a limit can be taken as the range of the modification goes to zero. The results then agree with those of Schwinger. A complete, unambiguous, and presumably consistent, method is therefore available for the calculation of all processes involving electrons and photons. The simplification in writing the expressions results from an emphasis on the over-all space-time view resulting from a study of the solution of the equations of electrodynamics. The relation of this to the more conventional Hamiltonian point of view is discussed. It would be very difficult to make the modification which is proposed if one insisted on having the equations in Hamiltonian form. The methods apply as well to charges obeying the Klein-Gordon equation, and to the various meson theories of nuclear forces. Illustrative examples are given. Although a modification like that used in electrodynamics can make all matrices finite for all of the meson theories, for some of the theories it is no longer true that all directly observable phenomena are insensitive to the details of the modification used. The actual evaluation of integrals appearing in the matrix elements may be facilitated, in the simpler cases, by methods described in the appendix.

The Casimir Effect and Its Applications

Abstract: The Casimir effect is analyzed. This effect consists of a polarization of the vacuum of quantized fields which arises as a result of a change in the spectrum of vacuum oscillations when the quantization volume is bounded or the topology of the space is non-Euclidean. Calculations of the effect for manifolds of various configurations and for fields with various spins are reported. Various definitions of the Casimir vacuum energy in the presence of walls are discussed. The quantum field theory of Casimir forces is generalized to incorporate the dispersion properties of the medium. Applications of the Casimir effect in various branches of physics are reviewed: from the theory of molecular forces to cosmology and elementary particle physics, including the bag model and supersymmetry.