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METHODOLOGICAL NOTES
Finite value of the bare charge and the relation of the fine structure constant ratio for physical and bare charges to zero-point oscillations of the electromagnetic field in a vacuum
V. I. Ritus Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Abstract:
The duality of four-dimensional electrodynamics and the theory of a two-dimensional massless scalar field leads to a functional coincidence of the spectra of the mean number of photons emitted by a point-like electric charge in 3+1 dimensions and the spectra of the mean number of scalar quanta pairs emitted by a point mirror in 1+1 dimensions. The spectra differ only by the factor
$e^2/\hbar c$ (in Heaviside units). The requirement that the spectra be identical determines unique values of the point-like charge
$e_0=\pm \sqrt {\hbar c}$ and its fine structure constant
$\alpha _0=1/4\pi \alpha$, which have all the properties required by Gell-Mann and Low for a finite bare charge. The Dyson renormalization constant
$Z_3\equiv \alpha /\alpha _0= 4\pi \alpha$ is finite and lies in the range
$0 < Z_3 < 1$, in agreement with the K
$\ddot {\rm a}$ll
$\acute {\rm e}$n–Lehmann spectral representation sum rule for the exact Green's function of the photon. The value of
$Z_3$ also lies in a very narrow interval $\alpha _{\rm L} < Z_3 \equiv \alpha /\alpha _0 = 4\pi \alpha < \alpha _{\rm B}$ between the values
$\alpha _{\rm L} = 0.0916$ and
$\alpha _{\rm B} = 0.0923$ of the parameters defining the shifts
$E_{\rm L, \,B} = \alpha _{\rm L, \,B}\hbar c/2r$ of the energy of zero-point fluctuations of the electromagnetic field in cubic and spherical resonators with the cube edge length equal to the sphere diameter,
$L = 2r$. In this case, the cube is circumscribed about the sphere. That the difference between the coefficients
$\alpha _{\rm L,\, B}$ is very small can be explained by the general property of all polyhedra circumscribed about a sphere: despite the difference between their shapes, they share a topological invariant, the surface-to-volume ratio
$S/V = 3/r$, the same as for the sphere itself. Shifts of the energy of zero-point oscillations in such resonators are also proportional to this invariant: $E_{\rm L, \,B} = \alpha _{\rm L, \,B} \hbar c S/6V$. On the other hand, the shifts
$E_{\rm L, \,B} = \alpha _{\rm L, \,B}\hbar c/2r$ of the energy of zero-point oscillations of the electromagnetic field essentially coincide with the energy of the mean squared fluctuations of the volume-averaged electric and magnetic fields in resonators, equal to
$Z_3\hbar c/2r$ in order of magnitude. It hence follows that
$\alpha _{\rm L, \,B}\approx Z_3$, as it should for the coefficients
$\alpha _\gamma $ of the shifts
$E_\gamma = \alpha _\gamma \hbar c/2r$ in other resonators
$\gamma $ circumscribed about a sphere. The closeness of
$\alpha _{\rm L}$ and
$\alpha _{\rm B}$ to the
$Z_3$ factor is confirmed by the K
$\ddot {\rm a}$ll
$\acute {\rm e}$n–Lehmann spectral representation and agrees with asymptotic conditions relating the photon creation amplitudes for free and interacting vector fields.
Keywords:
nonperturbative methods, physical charge, bare charge, renorminvariant charge, duality of 4-dimensional and 2-dimensional field theories, spectral representation of Green's functions, sum rule, zero-point fluctuations of a field in a vacuum, cavity resonator, topological invariant, conformal invariance.
PACS:
02.40.-k,
03.70.+k,
05.40.-a,
11.10.Hi,
11.10.Jj,
11.55.Hx,
12.20.-m,
41.60.-m Received: June 9, 2021Revised: October 25, 2021Accepted:
February 27, 2022
DOI:
10.3367/UFNr.2022.02.039167