2015/09/04 by Vincent Debierre, Debierre, Vincent, Thomas Durt +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Molecular Physics #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum and Classical Electrodynamics #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1509.01475
arxiv created 2015/09/04 · arxiv updated 2015/09/07
We investigate, in the case of the 2p-1s transition in atomic Hydrogen, the behaviour of the spontaneously emitted electromagnetic field in spacetime. We focus on Glauber's wave function for the emitted photon, a quantity which we find is nonzero outside the lightcone at all times after the start of the emission. We identify the uncertainty on the position of the decaying electron as a source of departure from causality in the naive sense of the term. We carry out a detailed study of the emitted electric field in the mid- and far-field regions, through analytical and numerical computations as well as asymptotic arguments.