# On the Emergence of the Coulomb Forces in Quantum Electrodynamics

## TL;DR

This paper explores how Coulomb forces in quantum electrodynamics might emerge from photon-electron interactions rather than being fundamental, through a transformation that removes Coulomb forces and the existence of bound states.

## Contribution

It demonstrates that Coulomb forces can be viewed as emergent phenomena within reducible quantum electrodynamics by analyzing bound states of photons and electrons.

## Key findings

- Coulomb forces can be eliminated via a simple field transformation.
- Bound states of photons and electrons exist, especially at long wavelengths.
- Coulomb forces may arise from long-wavelength photon interactions.

## Abstract

A simple transformation of field variables eliminates Coulomb forces from the theory of quantum electrodynamics. This suggests that Coulomb forces may be an emergent phenomenon rather than being fundamental. This possibility is investigated in the context of reducible quantum electrodynamics. It is shown that states exist which bind free photon and free electron fields. The binding energy peaks in the long-wavelength limit. This makes it plausible that Coulomb forces result from the interaction of the electron/positron field with long-wavelength transversely polarized photons.