\abstract{The Lamb shift, one of the most fundamental interactions in atomic physics, arises from the interaction of H atoms with the electromagnetic fluctuations of the quantum vacuum. The energy shift has been computed in a variety of ways. The energy shift, as Feynman and Power demonstrated, equals the change in the vacuum energy in the volume containing the H atoms due to the change in the index of refraction arising from the presence of the H atoms. By using this result and a group theoretical calculation of the contribution to the Lamb shift from each frequency of the vacuum fluctuations, we can obtain an expression for the size of the region of vacuum energy for each frequency \texorpdfstring{$ω$}{ω} around the H atom due to the Lamb shift. The ground state atom is surrounded by a region of positive vacuum energy that extends well beyond the atom for low frequencies. This region can be described as a steady state cloud of virtual quanta. For energies \texorpdfstring{$E=\hbarω$}{E=hbar omega} eV less than 1 eV, the radius of the positive energy region is approximately 14. 4/E Angstroms. For a vacuum fluctuation of wavelength \texorpdfstring{$λ$}{lambda} the radius is \texorpdfstring{$(α/2π)λ$}{(alpha/2pi) lambda}. Thus, for long wavelengths, the region has macroscopic dimensions. The energy-time Uncertainty Relation predicts a maximum possible radius that is larger than this by a factor of \texorpdfstring{$1/ 4α$}{1/(4 alpha)}.}
\keyword{Bethe; radiative shift; shift spectral density; spectral volume; vacuum fluctuations; vacuum field; Lamb shift; QED; energy field, renormalization, zero point fluctuations; hydrogen atom}.
Journal reference
Physics 2023, 5(3), 883-894;
Comments
13 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, Revised version submitted to arXiv 7/28/2026
\abstract{The Lamb shift, one of the most fundamental interactions in atomic physics, arises from the interaction of H atoms with the electromagnetic fluctuations of the quantum vacuum. The energy shift has been computed in a variety of ways. The energy shift, as Feynman and Power demonstrated, equals the change in the vacuum energy in the volume containing the H atoms due to the change in the index of refraction arising from the presence of the H atoms. By using this result and a group theoretical calculation of the contribution to the Lamb shift from each frequency of the vacuum fluctuations, we can obtain an expression for the size of the region of vacuum energy for each frequency \texorpdfstring{ω}{ω} around the H atom due to the Lamb shift. The ground state atom is surrounded by a region of positive vacuum energy that extends well beyond the atom for low frequencies. This region can be described as a steady state cloud of virtual quanta. For energies \texorpdfstring{E=ℏω}{E=hbar omega} eV less than 1 eV, the radius of the positive energy region is approximately 14. 4/E Angstroms. For a vacuum fluctuation of wavelength \texorpdfstring{λ}{lambda} the radius is \texorpdfstring{(α/2π)λ}{(alpha/2pi) lambda}. Thus, for long wavelengths, the region has macroscopic dimensions. The energy-time Uncertainty Relation predicts a maximum possible radius that is larger than this by a factor of \texorpdfstring{1/4α}{1/(4 alpha)}.}
\keyword{Bethe; radiative shift; shift spectral density; spectral volume; vacuum fluctuations; vacuum field; Lamb shift; QED; energy field, renormalization, zero point fluctuations; hydrogen atom}.
Quantum theory predicts that empty space is not truly empty. Even in the absence of any particles or radiation, in pure vacuum, virtual particles are constantly created and annihilated. In an electromagnetic field, the presence of virtual photons manifests itself as a small renormalization of the energy of a quantum system, known as the Lamb shift. We present an experimental observation of the Lamb shift in a solid-state system. The strong dispersive coupling of a superconducting electronic circuit acting as a quantum bit (qubit) to the vacuum field in a transmission-line resonator leads to measurable Lamb shifts of up to 1.4% of the qubit transition frequency. The qubit is also observed to couple more strongly to the vacuum field than to a single photon inside the cavity, an effect that is explained by taking into account the limited anharmonicity of the higher excited qubit states.
"Negative energy" has been one of the most enduring puzzles in quantum theory, whereas the present work reveals that it actually plays a central role in clarifying various controversies of quantum theory. The basic idea is contained in a hypothesis on negative energy, and it is shown that the idea: (1)is compatible with both relativistic quantum mechanics and known experimental results; (2)helps to clarify the essence of matter waves, and therefore better understand the reality of the wave function, the so-called 'wave-packet reduction' occurring in quantum measurement, and the ghost like correlations between entangled systems; (3)is helpful for distinguishing the vacuum from the ground state of the quantized field, and may supply a possible way for removing the deep-rooted infinities in quantum field theory. The vacuum energy density of the electromagnetic field is calculated here as an example. By employing the same idea, the Lamb-Shift is recalculated in a different way from conventional renormalization method, yet the same result as Bethe's can be definitely obtained.
When a two-level system (TLS) is coupled to an electromagnetic resonator, its transition frequency changes in response to the quantum vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field, a phenomenon known as the Lamb shift. Remarkably, by replacing the TLS by a harmonic oscillator, normal-mode splitting leads to a quantitatively similar shift, without taking quantum fluctuations into account. In a weakly anharmonic system, lying in between the harmonic oscillator and a TLS, the origins of such shifts can be unclear. An example of this is the dispersive shift of a transmon qubit in circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED). Although often referred to as a Lamb shift, the dispersive shift observed in spectroscopy in circuit QED could contain a significant contribution from normal-mode splitting that is not driven by quantum fluctuations, raising the question: how much of this shift is quantum in origin? Here we treat normal-mode splitting separately from shifts induced by quantum vacuum fluctuations in the Hamiltonian of a weakly anharmonic system, providing a framework for understanding the extent to which observed frequency shifts can be attributed to quantum fluctuations.
We consider a multilevel atom such as an hydrogen atom, interacting with the quantum electromagnetic field, in the dressed ground state of the interacting system. We evaluate by perturbation theory the dressed ground state of the system, within dipole approximation; we investigate and review the effect of the self-dressing of the atom on several field and atomic observables. Specifically, we obtain general expressions of the renormalized electric and magnetic field fluctuations and energy densities around the atom, and analyze their scaling with the distance from the atom, obtaining approximated expressions in the so-called near and far zone. We also investigate nonlocal spatial field correlations around the atom. We stress how the quantities we evaluate can be probed through two- and three-body nonadditive Casimir-Polder dispersion interactions. We also investigate the effect of the self-dressing, i.e. of the virtual transitions occurring in the dressed ground state, on atomic observables, for example the average potential energy of the electron in the nuclear field; this also allows us to obtain a more fundamental quantum basis for the Welton interpretation of the Lamb shift of a ground-state hydrogen atom, in terms of the atomic self-dressing processes.
According to quantum field theory, the vacuum is filled with virtual particles which can be turned into real ones under the influence of external perturbations. Phenomena of this kind are commonly referred to as quantum vacuum phenomena. Several quantum vacuum phenomena related to the peculiar nature of the quantum vacuum have been predicted, some of which, such as the Lamb shift and the Casimir effect, have been experimentally found. Other examples of quantum vacuum phenomena include the Unruh effect, the dynamical Casimir effect and the dynamical Lamb effect. The dynamical Lamb effect was first predicted by considering the situation of an atom passing through a cavity at relativistic speed. In this case, the excitation of the atom and the generation of photons is thought to arise because of the sudden change of Lamb shift of the atom. If multiple atoms concurrently experience the dynamical Lamb effect, they can become entangled. A theoretical framework to investigate the time-evolution of a system of N qubits, modeling atoms, coupled to a harmonic oscillator, modeling a cavity, with time-dependent coupling is developed. For the case of a closed system, three different analytical approaches are presented. First, a perturbative approach in the time-domain. This is the standard approach in the solution of Schrödinger equation. Second, a perturbative approach in the Laplace-domain. This can simplify the solution of Schrödinger equation with time-dependent Hamiltonians. However, both approaches require the interaction part of the Hamiltonian to be small compared to the unperturbed Hamiltonian. Third, the framework of Floquet theory is introduced. This can be used in the case of periodic Hamiltonians regardless of the interaction strength. For the case of an open system, the dynamics is investigated by numerically solving the Lindblad master equation. These approaches are then applied to the study of the time-evolution of the quantum entanglement between two and three qubits coupled to a harmonic oscillator. It is demonstrated that different measures of entanglement show a different level of detail of the latter and that time-dependent Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states can be created even in the presence of dissipation.The dynamical Lamb effect is predicted to arise in superconducting circuits when the coupling of a superconducting qubit with a resonator is periodically switched “on” and “off”nonadiabatically. We show that by using a superconducting circuit which allows one to switch between longitudinal and transverse coupling of a qubit to a resonator, it is possible to observe the dynamical Lamb effect. The switching between longitudinal and transverse coupling can be achieved by modulating the magnetic flux through the circuit loops. Superconducting circuits of this kind are routinely used as quantum information processors. These devices take advantage of quantum properties for mathematical computations, improving their computational capabilities compared to regular computers. We have implemented Shor’s factoring algorithm, in a simplified form, on one such device made available through the cloud by IBM. We study the results of the algorithm on the ibmqx5 superconducting chip, for the particular case of factoring N= 15, 21, and 35. Positive results are obtained for factoring15 and 21, although the device fails to compute the factors of 35 due to the errors introduced by the presence of noise.
This paper presents a quantum-field-theoretic formulation of the hydrogen 2p → 1s Lyman-α transition, replacing the semiclassical Bohr–Maxwell description with the modern framework of quantum electrodynamics. The initial and final bound-electron states are described by the Dirac equation in the proton’s Coulomb field, with the Schrödinger equation recovered as the leading nonrelativistic limit. The electromagnetic radiation field is quantized, and photon emission is generated by the QED interaction Hamiltonian. The transition amplitude is evaluated from the atomic current and quantized electromagnetic field, leading through Fermi’s golden rule to the spontaneous-emission rate and Einstein coefficient A₂₁. Energy and momentum conservation require the emitted photon to carry the atomic transition energy, including the small correction associated with proton recoil. At leading order, the Lyman-α photon has ΔE ≈ 10.2 eV, ν ≈ 2.47 × 10¹⁵ Hz, and λ ≈ 121.6 nm. In the electric-dipole approximation, the field-theoretic calculation reduces to the standard matrix element of the interaction Hamiltonian H_int = −μ·E, thereby connecting QED directly to the transition dipole moment, oscillator strength, Einstein A coefficient, and radiative lifetime. The calculation reproduces the accepted numerical results for hydrogen while identifying their origin in the coupling between the quantized electron field and the quantized electromagnetic field. The paper also explains how classical electrodynamics is recovered from QED. Maxwell’s equations govern the expectation values of the electromagnetic-field operators in the appropriate classical-field limit, particularly for coherent states containing many photons. A single spontaneously emitted Lyman-α photon, however, remains a genuinely quantum excitation rather than a classical electromagnetic wave. Leading corrections beyond the nonrelativistic Coulomb approximation are then considered, including relativistic fine structure, the Lamb shift, and atomic recoil. The resulting treatment provides a rigorous bridge from the historical Bohr model and Schrödinger wave mechanics to Dirac theory and full QED, verifying the Lyman-α energy, frequency, wavelength, transition probability, and radiative decay structure within a unified quantum-field framework.