Quantum nonlocality effect and radiative damping of the Dirac electron

Abstract

Quantum spacetime nonlocality, i.e., retardation of the interaction between an electron and its own radiation field at distances of about the Compton wavelength, is established. By taking into account a finite variance of the electron-coordinate increment in the intrinsic coordinate system, the radiative damping coefficient is obtained as a divergence-free function of frequency not subject to the well-known paradoxes of the classical theory of radiative damping. A relation between radiative damping, the Lamb shift, and the electromagnetic mass of the electron is found.