Abstract
Radiative corrections in systems near imperfectly reflecting boundaries are investigated. As an example, the self-energy of an unbound electron close to a single surface is calculated at one-loop level. The surface is modeled by a nondispersive dielectric half-space of a constant refractive index . In contrast to previous, perfectly reflecting models, the evanescent modes in the optically thinner medium are taken into account and are found to play a physically very important role. The Feynman propagator of the photon field is determined and given in two alternative representations, which include the evanescent modes either as a separate contribution or through analytic continuation and deformation of the integration path for the normal component of the complex wave vector . The evaluation of the self-energy diagram encounters a number of problems that are specific to the boundary dependence and to the imperfect reflection at the boundary. These problems and methods for their resolution are discussed in depth.
- Received 12 July 2005
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.73.025009
©2006 American Physical Society