2000/09/30 by Giovanni Modanese
Physics and Astronomy · #hep-th
published as Found.Phys.Lett. 16 (2003) 135-141 · LaTeX, 5 pages, 1 figure. v4: final version accepted for publication in Found. Phys. Lett
arxiv created 2003/01/08 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
Motivated by recent works on the origin of inertial mass, we revisit the relationship between the mass of charged particles and zero-point electromagnetic fields. To this end we first introduce a simple model comprising a scalar field coupled to stochastic or thermal electromagnetic fields. Then we check if it is possible to start from a zero bare mass in the renormalization process and express the finite physical mass in terms of a cut-off. In scalar QED this is indeed possible, except for the problem that all conceivable cut-offs correspond to very large masses. For spin-1/2 particles (QED with fermions) the relation between bare mass and renormalized mass is compatible with the observed electron mass and with a finite cut-off, but only if the bare mass is not zero; for any value of the cut-off the radiative correction is very small.