Eliminating ultraviolet divergence in quantum field theory through use of the Boltzmann factor

TL;DR

This paper proposes using a Boltzmann factor to suppress high-energy virtual particles in quantum field theory, effectively eliminating ultraviolet divergences and making key quantities finite.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach of applying a Boltzmann suppression to high-energy virtual particles to address divergence issues in quantum field theory.

Findings

Coulomb potential becomes finite with the Boltzmann factor

Zero-point energy density is finite under this approach

Self-energy of scalar fields is finite

Abstract

The need for a cutoff in the Lamb shift calculation suggests that high-energy virtual photons do not interact with real particles. In this paper, we assume that the creation of high-energy virtual particles is suppressed by a Boltzmann factor. As a result, the Coulomb potential is modified, and the zero-point energy density and one-particle-irreducible self-energy of the scalar field are finite.