Strongly coupled positronium in a chiral phase

Abstract

Strongly coupled positronium, considered in its pseudoscalar sector, is studied in the framework of relativistic quantum constraint dynamics. Case's method of self-adjoint extension of singular potentials, which avoids explicit introduction of regularization cut-offs, is adopted. It is found that, as the coupling constant αincreases, the bound state spectrum undergoes an abrupt change at the critical value α= α_c = 1/2. For α> α_c, the mass spectrum displays, in addition to the existing states for α< α_c, a new set of an infinite number of bound states concentrated in a narrow band starting at mass W=0. In the limit αgoing to α_c from above, these states shrink to a single massless state with a mass gap with the rest of the spectrum. This state has the required properties to represent a Goldstone boson and to signal a spontaneous breakdown of chiral symmetry. It is suggested that the critical coupling constant α_c be viewed as a possible candidate for an ultra- violet stable fixed point of QED, with a distinction between two phases, joined to each other by a first-order chiral phase transition.