Magnetic Polarizability of the Electron

Abstract

THE anomaly of the magnetic moment of the electron has been explained by Schwinger¹ as due to the interaction of the electron with the zero-point fluctuations of the radiation field. A particularly simple derivation has recently been given by Luttinger². Luttinger considers the state of an electron in a constant magnetic field H such that its energy is exactly equal to mc², the energy of the orbital magnetic moment cancelling the energy of the spin magnetic moment. He then calculates the self-energy of the electron in this state due to the interaction with radiation, and expands this in powers of H. The term independent of H is divergent, being the well-known self-energy of the electron in the absence of any field, while the term proportional to H is finite and given by (ℏ = c = 1):