Eight-component two-fermion equations

Abstract

An eight-component formalism is proposed for the relativistic two-fermion problem. In QED, it extends the applicability of the Dirac equation with hyperfine interaction to the positronium case. The use of exact relativistic two-body kinematics entails a CP-invariant spectrum which is symmetric in the total cms energy. It allows the extension of recent \alpha^6 recoil corrections to the positronium case, and implies new recoil corrections to the fine and hyperfine structures and to the Bethe logarithm.