Time evolution of the Lamb shift

Da Wei Wang*, Zheng Hong Li, Li Gang Wang, Shi Yao Zhu, M. Suhail Zubairy

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

The time evolution of the Lamb shift that accompanies the real photon emission is studied for the first time (to our knowledge). The investigation of the explicit time dependence of the Lamb shift becomes possible because the selfenergy of the free electron, which is divergent, is subtracted from the Hamiltonian after a unitary transformation. The Lamb shift can then be separated into two parts: one is the time-independent shift due to the virtual photon exchange, and the other is the time-dependent shift due to the real photon emission. The time evolution depends on the nature of the coupling spectrum of the reservoir.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2861-2863
Number of pages3
JournalOptics Letters
Volume35
Issue number17
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2010

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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