The gravitational form factor D(t) of the electron

Abstract

The electron-graviton interaction can be described in terms of the gravitational form factors of the QED energy momentum tensor. Here we focus on the form factor D(t), and we examine its properties and its interpretation in terms of internal forces at one-loop accuracy in QED. We perform the calculation by keeping separate the contributions due to the electron and the photon parts of the energy momentum tensor. We also study the case of a nonzero photon mass. Furthermore, we discuss similarities with and differences to the form factor D(t) of hadronic bound states.