Nonperturbative calculation of Born-Infeld effects on the Schroedinger spectrum of the hydrogen atom

Abstract

We present the first nonperturbative numerical calculations of the nonrelativistic hydrogen spectrum as predicted by first-quantized electrodynamics with nonlinear Maxwell-Born-Infeld field equations. We also show rigorous upper and lower bounds on the ground state. When judged against empirical data our results significantly restrict the range of viable values of the new electromagnetic constant which is introduced by the Born-Infeld theory. We assess Born's own proposal for the value of his constant.