Self-Energy of the Electron

Abstract

A perturbation theory is developed within the usual formalism of quantum electrodynamics which yields a finite unrenormalized electron Green's function and a finite value for the electron's electromagnetic self-mass in each order. This is subject only to the qualification in this paper, that the vacuum polarization is also obtained without divergences. Furthermore, the bare mass of the electron must vanish; the electron mass must be totally dynamical in origin.