P. J. Walker | Searcharxiv

arXiv2009

Quantum corrections to the Larmor radiation formula in scalar electrodynamics

We use the semi-classical approximation in perturbative scalar quantum electrodynamics to calculate the quantum correction to the Larmor radiation formula to first order in Planck's constant in the non-relativistic approximation, choosing the initial state of the charged particle to be a momentum eigenstate. We calculate this correction in two cases: in the first case the charged particle is accelerated by a time-dependent but space-independent vector potential whereas in the second case it is accelerated by a time-independent vector potential which is a function of one spatial coordinate. We find that the corrections in these two cases are different even for a charged particle with the same classical motion. The correction in each case turns out to be non-local in time in contrast to the classical approximation.

hep-th↗

arXiv2009

Classical and quantum radiation reaction in conformally flat spacetime

We investigate the physics of a charged scalar particle moving in conformally flat spacetime with the conformal factor depending only on time in the framework of quantum electrodynamics (QED). In particular, we show that the radiation-reaction force derived from QED agrees with the classical counterpart in the limit $\hbar \to 0$ using the fact that to lowest order in $\hbar$ the charged scalar field theory with mass $m$ in conformally flat spacetime with conformal factor $Ω(t)$, which we call Model B, is equivalent to that in flat spacetime with a time-dependent mass $mΩ(t)$, which we call Model A, at tree level in this limit. We also consider the one-loop QED corrections to these two models in the semi-classical approximation. We find nonzero one-loop corrections to the mass and Maxwell's equations in Model A at order $\hbar^{-1}$. This does not mean, however, that the corresponding one-loop corrections in Model B are nonzero because the equivalence of these models through a conformal transformation breaks down at one loop. We find that the one-loop corrections vanish in the limit $\hbar \to 0$ in Model B.

gr-qc↗