Standard Model of Non-relativistic Matter and Radiation

Abstract

In this chapter we introduce and discuss the standard model of non-relativistic quantum electrodynamics (QED). Non-relativistic QED was proposed in the early days of Quantum Mechanics (it was used by Fermi ([Fermi]) in 1932 in his review of theory of radiation). It describes quantum-mechanical par- ticle systems coupled to a quantized electromagnetic field, and appears as a quantization of the system of non-relativistic classical particles interacting with a classical electromagnetic field (coupled Newton’s and Maxwell’s equa- tions). As such it is the most general quantum theory obtained by quantizing a classical system.