Topological Relics of Infrared QED in the Rayleigh-Jeans Regime

TL;DR

This paper explores how topological effects in infrared QED modify blackbody radiation, predicting a tiny but measurable deviation in the Rayleigh-Jeans limit that could be observed in laboratory and cosmic measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a topological reformulation of infrared QED using a Berry connection, revealing a novel effect on blackbody radiation within the Rayleigh-Jeans regime.

Findings

Estimated deviation parameter $psilon pprox 0.2",

Predicted measurable shift in blackbody spectra within current experimental sensitivity

Potential observation in cosmic microwave background measurements

Abstract

We revisit infrared Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) by reformulating the dressing of charged states in terms of a functional Berry connection. In this framework, the electron--photon cloud acquires a topological character, leading to a modification of the Rayleigh-Jeans limit of blackbody radiation. The deviation is controlled by a dimensionless parameter $\epsilon$, estimated as $\epsilon \simeq (1.7$--$2.3)\times 10^{-3}$ in the $80$-$110~\mathrm{GHz}$ range, corresponding to a fractional shift of $\sim 0.2\%$. This effect lies within the sensitivity of current high-precision radiometry and, being system-independent, should be observable both in laboratory blackbody spectra and in the cosmic microwave background.