Non-Relativistic Positronium Spectrum in Relativistic Schroedinger Theory

Abstract

The lowest energy levels of positronium are studied in the non-relativistic approximation within the framework of Relativistic Schrödinger Theory (RST). Since it is very difficult to find the exact solutions of the RST field equations (even in the non-relativistic limit), an approximation scheme is set up on the basis of the hydrogen-like wave functions (i.e. polynomial times exponential). For any approximation order $\NN (\NN=0,1,2,3,...)$ there arises a spectrum of approximate RST solutions with the associated energies, quite similarly to the conventional treatment of positronium in the standard quantum theory (Appendix). For the lowest approximation order $(\NN=0)$ the RST prediction for the \emph{groundstate} energy exactly agrees with the conventional prediction of the standard theory. However for the higher approximation orders $(\NN=1,2,3)$, the corresponding RST prediction differs from the conventional result by (roughly) $0,9 [eV]$ which confirms the previous estimate of the error being due to the use of the spherically symmetric approximation. The excited states require the application of higher-order approximations $(\NN>>3)$ and are therefore not adequately described by the present orders $(\NN\le 3)$.

67 pages and 3 figures