Radiative Corrections to the Ground-State Energy of the Helium Atom

Abstract

The radiative corrections of relative order $Z^2{\alpha }^3$ (absolute order $Z^4{\alpha }^3$ ry), corresponding to the Lamb shift terms arising from the nuclear Coulomb potential, and some of the $Z{\alpha }^3$ corrections, arising from radiative interactions between the electrons, are calculated for the ground-state energy of the helium atom. The $Z^2{\alpha }^3$ corrections are all calculated, but of the $Z{\alpha }^3$ corrections, which are expected to be much smaller, we retain only those containing $\ln \alpha$ as a factor—these may be estimated rather easily—and neglect the rest, regarding unity as being small compared to $\ln \alpha$.