Enhanced binding in quantum field theory. (Q2881852)

Though atoms are coupled to the quantized electromagnetic field, this fact is normally ignored in the quantum mechanical spectral analysis, though recently there has been some interest, from the viewpoint of mathematical analysis, in understanding whether the ground state still persists when the coupling to the electromagnetic field is taken into account. More generally, some sort of non-perturbative analysis of eigenvalues embedded in a continuous spectrum has been developed in the last decade with application to Hamilton operators within the context of quantum field theory. It is generally called the stability problem. A very different situation called enhanced binding occurs when there is no ground state without radiation field, but binding occurs at a sufficiently strong coupling. So the radiation field may enhance binding. Details of this theory and related topics are reviewed in these lecture notes. The book consists of three main parts. Part I reviews fundamental facts about the Boson Fock space, studies its symplectic structure and shows that an infinite-dimensional symplectic group generated by the Bogolyubov transformations. Part II studies the Pauli-Fierz model from the year 1938 where it was recognized that the quantized radiation field produces an electromagnetic mass. It was Bethe who in 1947 studied the electromagnetic shift of energy levels and thus provided an explanation for the Lamb shift. One year later, Welton showed that the shift is due to an effective potential. The basic assumptions of Part II are: (1) dipole approximation, (2) no spin. Part III studies the so-called \(N\)-body Nelson model, i.e. a model that describes a minimal interaction between massive particles and a massless scalar field. The condition is removed that there is a ground state without this interaction. However, when this interaction is turned on, the quantum field generates an effective potential between the particles. Conditions for the existence and absence of a ground state are formulated.