The Lorentz-Dirac force from QED for linear acceleration

Abstract

We investigate the motion of a wave packet of a charged scalar particle linearly accelerated by a static potential in quantum electrodynamics. We calculate the expectation value of the position of the charged particle after the acceleration to first order in the fine structure constant in the hbar -> 0 limit. We find that the change in the expectation value of the position (the position shift) due to radiation reaction agrees exactly with the result obtained using the Lorentz-Dirac force in classical electrodynamics. We also point out that the one-loop correction to the potential may contribute to the position change in this limit.