https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2018-90427-9
Regular Article
Retaining hypothetical photon mass in atomic spectroscopy models
Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, Laboratoire PIIM, UMR 7345, Centre de Saint-Jérôme,
13397 Marseille Cedex 20, France
a e-mail: joel.rosato@univ-amu.fr
Received:
21
August
2018
Received in final form:
2
October
2018
Published online: 10 January 2019
We revisit the formalism involved in atomic spectroscopy modeling under the assumption that the photon has a finite mass. Starting from the Proca Lagrangian, we build a Hamiltonian suitable for the calculation of line shapes and intensities. Two consequences of finite photon mass are: (i) a dispersion of electromagnetic waves propagating in free space; (ii) the occurrence of a longitudinal polarization state. We illustrate these effects by addressing the spontaneous emission of a massive photon by an excited atom. The Einstein A coefficient and the power spectrum are calculated as an example. If the photon has a finite mass, deviations to standard formulas are showed to occur at energies comparable to the mass energy. A discussion based on the current upper bound estimates for the photon mass is done.
Key words: Quantum Optics
© EDP Sciences / Società Italiana di Fisica / Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature, 2019