https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14773-y
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Influence of a perfectly conducting plate on the Uehling potential of QED
1
Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Caixa Postal 68528, 21941-972, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
2
Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences & CEICO, Na Slovance 2, 182 21, Prague, Czechia
3
IFQ, Universidade Federal de Itajubá, Av. BPS 1303, Pinheirinho Caixa Postal 50, 37500-903, Itajubá, MG, Brazil
4
Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Avenida Litorânea s/n, CP 24210-346, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Received:
18
July
2025
Accepted:
11
September
2025
Published online:
19
September
2025
In this work, we investigate the influence of a perfectly conducting plate on the Uehling potential of quantum electrodynamics (QED), corresponding to the first loop correction to the classical Coulomb potential in that situation. We use the method of images adapted to the photon propagator, extending the method beyond the standard (classical) tree level calculation. We show that the effect of the plate on the quantum correction is much stronger than the expectation from a naive application of the method of images.
© The Author(s) 2025
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