QED Corrections to the Electromagnetic Abraham Force. Casimir Momentum of the Hydrogen atom?

B. van Tiggelen (1) , Sebastien Kawka (1, 2) , Rikken G.L.J.A. (3, 4)

1 LPM2C - Laboratoire de physique et modélisation des milieux condensés
2 SNS - Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
3 LNCMI-T - Laboratoire national des champs magnétiques intenses - Toulouse
4 LNCMI-G - Laboratoire national des champs magnétiques intenses - Grenoble

We develop a QED approach to find the contribution of the quantum vacuum to the electromagnetic Abraham force. Semi-classical theories predict diverging contributions from the quantum vacuum. We show that the divergencies disappear by Kramers-Bethe mass-renormalization. The finite remainder is compared to the relativistic corrections to the Abraham force. This work generalizes an earlier paper [1], dedicated to the harmonic oscillator, to the hydrogen atom and corrects two subtle errors.

Mots clés: electromagnetic Abraham force; mass renormalization

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]

B. van Tiggelen, Sebastien Kawka, Rikken G.L.J.A.. QED Corrections to the Electromagnetic Abraham Force. Casimir Momentum of the Hydrogen atom?. 2012. ⟨hal-00673343⟩