Ground States in Non-relativistic Quantum Electrodynamics

Abstract

The excited states of a charged particle interacting with the quantized electromagnetic field and an external potential all decay, but such a particle should have a true ground state--one that minimizes the energy and satisfies the Schr\"odinger equation. We prove quite generally that this state exists for {\it all values} of the fine-structure constant and ultraviolet cutoff. We also show the same thing for a many-particle system under physically natural conditions.