The hydrogen atom: consideration of the electron self-field

TL;DR

This paper emphasizes the importance of considering the electron's electromagnetic self-field in the hydrogen atom, deriving solutions from a self-consistent Dirac-Maxwell system, and analyzing their spectra with numerical and variational methods.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent approach to the hydrogen atom using Dirac and Maxwell equations, revealing solutions analogous to atomic states and their energy spectra.

Findings

Spectrum closely follows the Bohr n^{-2} dependence.

Ionization energy is approximately half the observed value.

Ground and excited states are obtained via numerical and variational methods.

Abstract

We substantiate the need for account of the proper electromagnetic field of the electron in the canonical problem of hydrogen in relativistic quantum mechanics. From mathematical viewpoint, the goal is equivalent to determination of the spectrum of everywhere regular solutions to the self-consistent system of Dirac and Maxwell equations (with external Coulomb potential). We demonstrate that only particular classes of solutions, "nonlinear" analogues of s- and p-states, can be obtained through decomposition of a solution in a series, with respect to the fine structure constant parameter $\alpha$. In the zero approximation at $\alpha \rightarrow 0$ the reduction to the self-consistent non-relativistic system of Schr\"odinger-Poisson equations takes place. For the latter, using both numerical and variational methods, we obtain the solutions corresponding to the ground and set of excited states. Spectrum of the binding energies with remarkable precision reproduces the "Bohrian" dependence $W_n = W/ n^2$. For this, the ionization energy $W$ proves to be universal yet about two times smaller than its observed value. Possibility of the renormalization procedure and the problem of account for relativistic corrections to the binding energies of order $\alpha^2$ are considered