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Main Author: Potvliege, R. M.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.16100
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author Potvliege, R. M.
author_facet Potvliege, R. M.
contents We study the role of retardation in the energy shift of Rydberg states induced by thermal radiation, focusing on the case of temperatures higher than those for which the electric-dipole approximation is expected to apply. As anticipated by Farley and Wing [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 23}, 2397 (1981)], retardation needs to be taken into account in calculations of this energy shift at and above the temperature $α\, mc^2/(3k_{\rm B}\,n^2)$, where $n$ is the principal quantum number of the state considered, $m$ is the mass of the electron and $k_{\rm B}$ is Boltzmann constant.The corresponding non-dipole shift dominates the electric-dipole shift at about 2.5 times that characteristic temperature. We also show that the electric-quadrupole thermal shift is of the same order of magnitude as the diamagnetic thermal shift and would thus need to be taken into account in the circumstances where the latter is relevant.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_16100
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Multipole blackbody radiation shift in Rydberg atoms
Potvliege, R. M.
Atomic Physics
We study the role of retardation in the energy shift of Rydberg states induced by thermal radiation, focusing on the case of temperatures higher than those for which the electric-dipole approximation is expected to apply. As anticipated by Farley and Wing [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 23}, 2397 (1981)], retardation needs to be taken into account in calculations of this energy shift at and above the temperature $α\, mc^2/(3k_{\rm B}\,n^2)$, where $n$ is the principal quantum number of the state considered, $m$ is the mass of the electron and $k_{\rm B}$ is Boltzmann constant.The corresponding non-dipole shift dominates the electric-dipole shift at about 2.5 times that characteristic temperature. We also show that the electric-quadrupole thermal shift is of the same order of magnitude as the diamagnetic thermal shift and would thus need to be taken into account in the circumstances where the latter is relevant.
title Multipole blackbody radiation shift in Rydberg atoms
topic Atomic Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.16100