Effective field theories for QED bound states: extending Nonrelativistic QED to study retardation effects

Abstract

Nonrelativistic QED bound states are difficult to study because of the presence of at least three widely different scales: the masses, three-momenta ($p_i$) and kinetic energies ($K_i$) of the constituents. Nonrelativistic QED (NRQED), an effective field theory developed by Caswell and Lepage, simplifies greatly bound state calculations by eliminating the masses as dynamical scales. As we demonstrate, NRQED diagrams involving only photons of energy $E_\gamma \simeq p_i$ contribute, in any calculation, to a unique order in $\alpha$. This is not the case, however, for diagrams involving photons with energies $E_\gamma \simeq K_i$ (``retardation effects"), for which no simple counting counting rules can be given. We present a new effective field theory in which the contribution of those ultra-soft photons can be isolated order by order in $\alpha$. This is effectively accomplished by performing a multipole expansion of the NRQED vertices.