Muonic‐atom data dispel lingering doubts on QED
DOI: 10.1063/1.3023362
The last remaining discrepancy between predictions of quantum‐electrodynamic theory and experimental observations has now been removed, leaving QED unquestionably the most successful dynamical theory in all of physics. Measurements of x‐ray transitions in muonic lead and muonic barium, made at the Space Radiation Effects Lab (College of William and Mary, Newport News, Virginia) and at CERN agree with theoretical predictions based on a muon–nucleus interaction that includes quantum‐electrodynamic corrections such as vacuum polarization and Lamb shift. The vacuum‐polarization corrections had been causing concern for the last five years because the apparent lack of agreement with experiment represented the only failure in the otherwise phenomenal success of QED.
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