Precision physics of simple atoms: QED tests, nuclear structure and fundamental constants

By Savely G. Karshenboim. 2005

335 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Quantum electrodynamics (QED) is the first successful and still the most successful quantum field theory. Simple atoms, being essentially QED systems, allow highly accurate theoretical predictions. Because of their simple spectra, such atoms have also been efficiently studied experimentally frequently offering the most precisely measured quantities. Our review is devoted to comparison of theory and experiment in the field of precision physics of light simple atoms. In particular, we consider the Lamb shift in the hydrogen atom, the hyperfine structure in hydrogen, deuterium, helium-3 ion, muonium and positronium, as well as a number of other transitions in positronium. Additionally to a spectrum of unperturbed atoms, we consider annihilation decay of positronium and the g factor of bound particles in various two-body atoms. Special attention is paid to the uncertainty of the QED calculations due to the uncalculated higher-order corrections and effects of the nuclear structure. We also discuss applications of simple atoms to determination of several fundamental constants.

Subfields: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics, Radiation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4705215e02babc1b4fc85a42e009dd722a399181

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

In Nuclear and High Energy Physics

In Radiation

Citations in the corpus

Search for New Physics with Atoms and Molecules (2017, methodology): “QED tests with these systems were reviewed by Karshenboim (2005).”
Highly charged ions: Optical clocks and applications in fundamental physics (2018, background): “We refer the reader to reviews by Beiersdorfer (2010); Drake and Yan (2008); Eides et al. (2001); Indelicato and Mohr (2017); Karshenboim (2005); Shabaev et al. (2015); Sturm et al. (2017, 2013b); Volotka et al. (2013) for detailed discussion of QED calculations and tests of QED.”