Electromagnetic Self-Energy of Mesotrons. [Offprint].

RICHTMYER, Robert Davis (1910-2003). RICHTMYER, R. D.

Published by The Physical Review, 1940., College Park, MD:, 1940

About this Item

Offprint. Original wrappers. Very good. [Abstract: We have calculated the electromagnetic self-energy of a mesotron of unit spin according to the Proca-Yukawa-Kemmer theory by an approximate method equivalent to the second order of perturbation theory. The method enables the result to be separated into various parts whose physical significance can be seen more clearly than that of the total result, but is of course open to the same objection as perturbation theory for such calculations. The various parts of the self-energy are due to the longitudinal electric field (Coulomb part), the transverse electric field (arising from the spin), the magnetic field (also from spin) and a part due to the influence of the zero point fluctuations of the radiation field on the motion and therefore on the proper field of the particle. In terms of a "cut-off radius" a, introduced to make the various contributions finite, but which will later be set equal to zero, the first and last parts diverge as 1/a2. The second and third parts diverge as 1/a4, but are of opposite sign and cancel to this order. The whole self-energy diverges as 1/a2 in our approximation. These results are compared with similar ones for spins 0 and ½ recently obtained by Weisskopf." Richtmyer was an American physicist and mathematician. He worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory during WWII, and led their theoretical division after the war. He taught at UC Boulder from 1964 until his retirement, and also played violin in the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Electromagnetic Self-Energy of Mesotrons. [Offprint].
• Publisher: The Physical Review, 1940., College Park, MD:
• Publication Date: 1940
• Binding: Soft cover