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# Calculation of radiative corrections to the effect of parity nonconservation in heavy atoms

## I Introduction

Atomic parity nonconservation (PNC) has now been measured in bismuth Bi , lead Pb , thallium Tl , and cesium Cs . Analysis of the data provides an important test of the standard electroweak model and imposes constraints on new physics beyond the model, see Ref. RPP . The analysis is based on the atomic many-body calculations for Tl, Pb, and Bi Dzuba1  and for Cs Dzuba2 ; Blundell  (see also more recent Refs. Kozlov ; DFG ). Both the experimental and the theoretical accuracy is best for Cs. Therefore, this atom provides the most important information on the standard model in the low-energy sector.

In the many-body calculations Dzuba1 ; Dzuba2 ; Blundell  the Coulomb interaction between electrons was taken into account, while the magnetic interaction was neglected. The contribution of the magnetic (Breit) electron-electron interaction was calculated in the papers Der ; DHJS . It proved to be much larger than a naive estimate, and it shifted the theoretical prediction for PNC in Cs.

Radiative correction to the nuclear weak charge due to renormalization from the scale of the W-boson mass down to zero momentum has been calculated long time ago, see Refs. Mar1 ; Mar2 . This correction is always included in the analysis of data. However, another important class of radiative corrections was omitted in the analysis of atomic PNC. This fact has been pointed out in work Sushkov  that demonstrated that there are corrections $`Z\alpha ^2`$ caused by the collective electric field of the nucleus. Here Z is the nuclear charge and $`\alpha `$ is the fine structure constant. The simplest correction of this type is due to the Uehling potential. It has been calculated numerically in Ref. W  and analytically in our paper MiSu . In that paper MiSu  we have also analyzed the general structure of the radiative corrections caused by the collective electric field. It has been shown that, as well as the usual perturbative parameter $`Z\alpha `$, there is an additional parameter $`\mathrm{ln}(\lambda _C/r_0)`$ where $`\lambda _C`$ is the electron Compton wavelength and $`r_0`$ is the nuclear radius.

In the present work we consider radiative corrections to the atomic PNC effect due to electron self-energy and vertex. The total correction is of the form $`𝒜\mathrm{ln}(\lambda _C/r_0)+`$, where $`𝒜`$ and $``$ are functions of $`Z\alpha `$. We calculate the function $`𝒜`$ exactly in $`Z\alpha `$ and the function $``$ in the leading order. In the leading order $`𝒜\alpha (Z\alpha )^2`$ and $`\alpha (Z\alpha )`$. Results of the leading order calculations have been reported in Ref. Mil . Using results of our calculations we reanalyze the experimental data for atomic PNC. Agreement with the standard model is excellent.

As an application of our approach we have also calculated the dependence of the Lamb shift on the finite nuclear size. Agreement of our analytical formula with results of previous computations CJS93 ; JS  is perfect. Structure of the present paper is following. In Sec. II we discuss the general structure of the PNC amplitude. In Secs. III and IV we calculate logarithmic parts of the self-energy and the vertex contributions, respectively. In Sec.V we calculate the linear in $`Z\alpha `$ correction to the PNC amplitude. In Sec. VI we calculation the dependence of the Lamb shift on the finite nuclear size. Finally in Sec. VII we analyze experimental data on atomic PNC and present our conclusions.

## II General structure of the PNC amplitude

The strong relativistic enhancement is a special property of the atomic PNC effect. The relativistic enhancement factor is proportional to $`R(\lambda _C/Z\alpha r_0)^{2(1\gamma )}`$, where $`\gamma =\sqrt{1(Z\alpha )^2}`$. The factor is $`R`$3 for Cs and $`R9`$ for Tl, Pb, and Bi Kh . For nuclear radius we use the formula

$$r_01.1A^{1/3}fm1.5Z^{1/3}fm.$$
(1)
The relativistic enhancement factor $`R`$ is divergent at $`r_00`$. This makes the relativistic behavior of PNC very much different from the behavior of the hyperfine structure. The logarithmic enhancement of radiative corrections mentioned above is closely related to the existence of the factor $`R`$. The Feynman diagram for the leading contribution to the PNC matrix element between $`p_{1/2}`$ and $`s_{1/2}`$ states as well as diagrams for one loop radiative corrections are shown in Fig.1(a) and Fig.1(b-f), respectively. Strictly speaking the diagrams in Figs.1(b-f) are not quite well defined because they describe the matrix element between states with different energies, so it is not clear what energy corresponds to the external legs. However the external legs describe states of the external atomic electron, say $`6s`$, $`6p`$, $`7s`$,… states in Cs, that have very small binding energies of the order of $`m\alpha ^2`$ ($`m`$ is the electron mass). Therefore, the uncertainty in the definition of the diagrams appears only in the order $`\alpha ^3(Z\alpha )`$ which we do not consider in the present work.

The diagram Fig.1(b) corresponds to a modification of the electron wave function because of the vacuum polarization. This correction calculated analytically in Ref. MiSu  reads

$$\delta _b=\alpha \left(\frac{1}{4}Z\alpha +\frac{2(Z\alpha )^2}{3\pi \gamma }\left[\mathrm{ln}^2(b\lambda _C/r_0)+f\right]\right),$$
(2)
where $`b=\mathrm{exp}(1/(2\gamma )C5/6)`$, $`C0.577`$ is the Euler constant, and $`f1`$ is some smooth function of $`Z\alpha `$ independent of $`r_0`$. Hereafter we denote by $`\delta `$ the relative value of the correction. So, Eq. (2) represents the ratio of diagrams Fig.1(b) and Fig.1(a).

The renormalization of the nuclear weak charge $`Q_W`$ from the scale of the W-boson mass down to $`q=0`$ was performed in Refs. Mar1 ; Mar2 . However, as has been pointed out in Ref. MiSu , atomic experiments correspond to $`q1/r_030`$MeV, see also Ref. Hor . The correction due to renormalization from $`q=0`$ to $`q=1/r_0`$ is described by diagrams Fig.1(c) and Fig.1(d). It has the form MiSu

$$\delta _{cd}=\frac{4\alpha Z}{3\pi Q_W}(14\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W)\mathrm{ln}(\lambda _C/r_0)0.1\%,$$
(3)
where $`\theta _W`$ is the Weinberg angle, $`\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W0.2230`$, see Ref. RPP .

Diagrams Fig.1(e) and Fig.1(f) correspond to the contributions of the electron self-energy operator and the vertex operator, respectively. Neither of these diagrams is invariant with respect to the gauge transformation of the electromagnetic field. However, their sum is gauge invariant. It has been demonstrated in Ref. MiSu  that the correction $`\delta _e+\delta _f`$ is of the form

$$\delta _{ef}=\delta _e+\delta _f=𝒜\mathrm{ln}(b\lambda _C/r_0)+,$$
(4)
where $`𝒜`$ and $``$ are functions of $`Z\alpha `$, and the constant $`b`$ is defined after Eq.(2). In the leading approximation in the parameter $`Z\alpha `$ the functions are, $`A=(a_2/\pi )\alpha (Z\alpha )^2`$ and $`B=a_1\alpha (Z\alpha )`$. In the work MiSu  we have also obtained preliminary estimates for the coefficients $`a_1`$ and $`a_2`$. The estimates were based on an assumption of analogy between the polarization operator and the self-energy operator. This assumption and hence the preliminary estimates proved to be wrong. In the present work we calculate the coefficients $`a_1`$ and $`a_2`$ exactly. Moreover, we also calculate the function $`𝒜`$ exactly in the parameter $`Z\alpha `$. The functions $`𝒜`$ and $``$ are calculated by different methods. For calculation of $`𝒜`$ we use electron Green’s functions in the Coulomb field at $`r\lambda _C`$ and the Feynman gauge. The non-logarithmic term $``$ we find using the effective operator method and the Fried-Yennie gauge FY . The method is based on calculation of the low-energy scattering amplitude in the potential induced by $`Z`$-boson exchange.

Let us consider the PNC matrix element between $`p_{1/2}`$ and $`s_{1/2}`$ states. The wave function of the external electron is of the form

$$\psi (𝒓)=\left(\begin{array}{c}F(r)\mathrm{\Omega }\\ iG(r)\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}\end{array}\right),$$
(5)
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}=(𝝈𝒏)\mathrm{\Omega }`$ are spherical spinorsBLP . Calculation of the weak interaction matrix element in the leading approximation gives Kh

$$<p_{1/2}|(2\sqrt{2})^1G_FQ_W\rho (r)\gamma _5|s_{1/2}>_0=M_0(F_sG_pG_sF_p)|_{r=r_0}.$$
(6)
Here $`G_F`$ is the Fermi constant, and $`\rho (r)`$ is the density of the nucleus normalized as $`\rho (r)𝑑𝒓=1`$. At small distances, $`rZ\alpha \lambda _C`$, the electron mass can be neglected compared to the Coulomb potential energy, and solution of the Dirac equation for the radial wave functions reads

$$F=Nr^{\gamma 1},G=N\frac{Z\alpha }{\kappa \gamma }r^{\gamma 1},$$
(7)
where $`\kappa =1`$ for $`s_{1/2}`$-state and $`\kappa =1`$ for $`p_{1/2}`$-state, and $`N`$ is some constant dependent on the wave-function behavior at large distances ($`ra_B`$) Kh . Calculation of the constant $`N`$ is a very complex many-body problem, see Refs.Dzuba2 ; Blundell . Fortunately, the constant is cancelled out from the relative correction which we consider. Due to Eq. (7) the matrix element (6) is divergent at $`r_00`$ , $`M_0r_0^{2\gamma 2}`$. This leads to the strong relativistic enhancement factor mentioned above.

The correction to $`M_0`$ related to the diagram Fig.1(e) can be obtained as follows. The electron self-energy operator $`𝚺`$ being substituted to the Dirac equation, $`mm+𝚺`$, leads to the Lamb shift of energy levels and to the modification of electron wave functions, see, e.g., Ref. BLP . The wave function modification influences the matrix element of the weak interaction. We will call the Dirac equation with account of the self-energy operator the modified Dirac equation.

It is convenient to search for solution of the modified Dirac equation in the form (5) with substitutions $`FF(1+F^{(1)})`$, $`GG(1+G^{(1)})`$, where $`F^{(1)}`$ and $`G^{(1)}`$ are corrections due to the self energy. Using this form in Eq.(6) together with (7) we obtain the following relative correction to the PNC matrix element

$`\delta =M^{(1)}/M^{(0)}=\{{\displaystyle \frac{1+\gamma }{2}}[F_s^{(1)}+G_p{}_{}{}^{(1)}]+{\displaystyle \frac{1\gamma }{2}}[G_s^{(1)}+F_p{}_{}{}^{(1)}]\}|_{r=r_0}.`$ (8)
Similar to Eqs.(5),(7), we represent the self-energy term in the Dirac equation $`\mathrm{\Psi }^\mathrm{\Sigma }=𝚺\psi `$ as

$$\mathrm{\Psi }^\mathrm{\Sigma }=\left(\begin{array}{c}F^{(2)}\mathrm{\Omega }\\ iG^{(2)}\frac{Z\alpha }{\kappa \gamma }\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}\end{array}\right)r^{\gamma 2}.$$
(9)
In the next Section we will show that $`F^{(2)}`$ and $`G^{(2)}`$ are independent of $`r`$ at $`rZ\alpha \lambda _C`$. The functions $`F^{(1)}`$ and $`G^{(1)}`$ satisfy the following equations

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\gamma +\kappa }}{\displaystyle \frac{F^{(1)}}{x}}F^{(1)}+G^{(1)}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{Z\alpha }}G^{(2)}`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\kappa \gamma }}{\displaystyle \frac{G^{(1)}}{x}}F^{(1)}+G^{(1)}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{Z\alpha }}F^{(2)},`$ (10)
where $`x=\mathrm{ln}(r/\lambda _C)`$. The solution of Eqs. (II) reads

$`F^{(1)}={\displaystyle \frac{Z\alpha x}{2\gamma }}[G^{(2)}F^{(2)}]+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4Z\alpha \gamma }}[(\kappa +\gamma )G^{(2)}(\kappa \gamma )F^{(2)}]+a,`$
$`G^{(1)}={\displaystyle \frac{Z\alpha x}{2\gamma }}[G^{(2)}F^{(2)}]{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4Z\alpha \gamma }}[(\kappa +\gamma )G^{(2)}(\kappa \gamma )F^{(2)}]+a,`$ (11)
where $`a`$ is some constant. Note that in the leading logarithmic approximation (the terms proportional to $`x`$) $`F^{(1)}=G^{(1)}`$. Substituting (II) into Eq.(8), we find

$`\delta _e`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{Z\alpha L}{2\gamma }}[G_s^{(2)}+G_p{}_{}{}^{(2)}F_s^{(2)}F_p{}_{}{}^{(2)}]+const.`$ (12)
Here $`L=\mathrm{ln}(b\lambda _C/r_0)`$, and by $`const`$ we denote $`Z\alpha `$-dependent terms that do not contain the large logarithm $`L`$. It will be shown below that $`F_p^{(2)}=G_s^{(2)}`$ and $`G_p^{(2)}=F_s^{(2)}`$. Hence, the correction $`\delta _e`$ is of the form

$`\delta _e={\displaystyle \frac{Z\alpha }{\gamma }}\text{Re}\left[G_s^{(2)}F_s^{(2)}\right]L+const.`$ (13)
We will demonstrate that $`G_s^{(2)}`$ and $`F_s^{(2)}`$ are odd functions of $`Z\alpha `$. Therefore, the factor before the logarithm $`L`$ is an even function of $`Z\alpha `$ and hence the leading term of $`Z\alpha `$-expansion of this function is proportional to $`\alpha (Z\alpha )^2`$. The $`const`$ in Eq.(13) can be determined from the condition that the correction to the wave function is orthogonal to the solution of the non-modified Dirac equation. Therefore, the main contribution to the $`const`$ comes from the distances $`r\lambda _C`$, and hence the leading term of $`Z\alpha `$-expansion of the $`const`$ is proportional to $`\alpha (Z\alpha )`$. The correction $`\delta _f`$ corresponding to the diagram in Fig.1(f) has the same properties as $`\delta _e`$.

## III Logarithmic contribution of the self-energy operator

At $`r\lambda _C`$ one can neglect the electron mass in the propagator and write down $`\mathrm{\Psi }^\mathrm{\Sigma }=𝚺\psi `$ as

$`\mathrm{\Psi }^\mathrm{\Sigma }(𝒓_2)=2\alpha {\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}𝑑ϵ{\displaystyle 𝑑𝒓_1\gamma _\mu 𝒢(𝒓_2,𝒓_1|iϵ)\gamma ^\mu D(𝒓_2,𝒓_1|iϵ)\psi (𝒓_1)},`$ (14)
where $`𝒢`$ is the electron Green’s function in the Coulomb field, $`g_{\mu \nu }D`$ is the photon Green’s function in the Feynman gauge. In (14) we have deformed the contour of integration over the energy $`ϵ`$ in such a way that it coincides with the imaginary axis. According to the integral representation derived in MS82 , the Green’s function is of the form

$`𝒢(𝒓_2,𝒓_1|iϵ)={\displaystyle \frac{i}{4\pi r_1r_2}}{\displaystyle \underset{l=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}𝑑s\mathrm{exp}\left[\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}iZ\alpha \lambda sk(r_1+r_2)\mathrm{coth}s\right]T,`$
$`T=\gamma ^0[1(𝜸𝒏_2)(𝜸𝒏_1)]\left[\lambda {\displaystyle \frac{y}{2}}I_{2\nu }^{}(y)iZ\alpha \mathrm{coth}sI_{2\nu }(y)\right]B+\gamma ^0[1+(𝜸𝒏_2)(𝜸𝒏_1)]\lambda I_{2\nu }(y)A`$
$`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{k(r_2r_1)}{2\mathrm{sinh}^2s}}(𝜸,𝒏_1+𝒏_2)B+\mathrm{coth}s(𝜸,𝒏_2𝒏_1)A\right]I_{2\nu }(y),`$
$`y={\displaystyle \frac{2k\sqrt{r_1r_2}}{\mathrm{sinh}s}},A=l{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dx}}(P_l(x)+P_{l1}(x)),B={\displaystyle \frac{d}{dx}}(P_l(x)P_{l1}(x)).`$ (15)
Here $`k=|ϵ|`$ , $`\lambda =ϵ/k`$ , $`𝒏_{1,2}=𝒓_{1,2}/r_{1,2}`$, $`x=𝒏_1𝒏_2`$ , $`P_l(x)`$ is the Legendre polynomial, $`I_{2\nu }`$ is the modified Bessel function of the first kind, $`\nu =\sqrt{l^2(Z\alpha )^2}`$. Using relation

$$(𝒏_1\times 𝒏_2)\mathrm{\Phi }(𝒏_1𝒏_2)𝑑𝒏_1=0,$$

that is valid for arbitrary function $`\mathrm{\Phi }(x)`$, and Eqs.(5), (7), (III), and(14) we get for $`s`$-wave

$`\left(\begin{array}{c}F_s^{(2)}\\ G_s^{(2)}\end{array}\right)={\displaystyle \frac{i\alpha r_2^{1\gamma }}{\pi }}{\displaystyle \underset{l=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{\lambda =\pm 1}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}𝑑ϵ{\displaystyle 𝑑𝒓_1r_1^{\gamma 2}\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}𝑑sq\mathrm{exp}\left[\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}iZ\alpha \lambda sk(r_1+r_2)\mathrm{coth}s\right]D(𝒓_2,𝒓_1|iϵ)\left(\begin{array}{c}f_s\\ g_s\end{array}\right)},`$
$`f_s=(1+x)B\left[\lambda {\displaystyle \frac{y}{2}}I_{2\nu }^{}(y)iZ\alpha \mathrm{coth}sI_{2\nu }(y)\right]+(1x)A\lambda I_{2\nu }(y)`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{iZ\alpha }{1+\gamma }}\left[(1+x)B{\displaystyle \frac{k(r_2r_1)}{2\mathrm{sinh}^2s}}(1x)A\mathrm{coth}s\right]I_{2\nu }(y),`$
$`g_s=(1+x)(12x)B\left[\lambda {\displaystyle \frac{y}{2}}I_{2\nu }^{}(y)iZ\alpha \mathrm{coth}sI_{2\nu }(y)\right](1x)(1+2x)A\lambda I_{2\nu }(y)`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{iZ\alpha }{1\gamma }}\left[(1+x)B{\displaystyle \frac{k(r_2r_1)}{2\mathrm{sinh}^2s}}+(1x)A\mathrm{coth}s\right]I_{2\nu }(y).`$ (16)
Performing similar calculations for p-wave we find that $`F_p^{(2)}=G_s^{(2)}`$ and $`G_p^{(2)}=F_s^{(2)}`$. The explicit form of the photon Green’s function $`D`$ reads:

$$D(𝒓_2,𝒓_1|iϵ)=\frac{e^{kR}}{4\pi R},R=|𝒓_2𝒓_1|.$$
(17)
Using Eqs.(III), (17),(13) as well as the substitution $`𝒓_1=r_2𝝆`$ , $`ϵ=E/r_2`$ we obtain the following expression for the self-energy contribution to the function $`𝒜`$ (see, Eq.(4))

$`𝒜_{SE}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{\pi ^2\gamma }}{\displaystyle \underset{l=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}𝑑E{\displaystyle \frac{d𝝆\rho ^{\gamma 2}}{R}\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}𝑑s\mathrm{exp}\left[E(\rho +1)\mathrm{coth}sER\right](\mathrm{\Delta }_1+\mathrm{\Delta }_2)},`$
$`\mathrm{\Delta }_1`$ $`=`$ $`x(1+x)B\left[{\displaystyle \frac{y}{2}}I_{2\nu }^{}(y)(Z\alpha )\mathrm{sin}\varphi (Z\alpha )^2\mathrm{cos}\varphi \mathrm{coth}sI_{2\nu }(y)\right]+(Z\alpha )(1x^2)A\mathrm{sin}\varphi I_{2\nu }(y),`$
$`\mathrm{\Delta }_2`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{cos}\varphi \left[(1+x)B{\displaystyle \frac{E\gamma (1\rho )}{2\mathrm{sinh}^2s}}+(1x)A\mathrm{coth}s\right]I_{2\nu }(y).`$ (18)
Here $`\varphi =2Z\alpha s`$ , $`R=\sqrt{\rho ^22\rho x+1}`$, $`y=2E\sqrt{\rho }/\mathrm{sinh}s`$. It is obvious from this formula that $`𝒜_{SE}`$ is an even function of $`Z\alpha `$.

Equation (III) is not quite correct. The point is that the integrand in this equation has been derived for $`𝒓_1𝒓_2`$. However, there are also terms containing $`\delta `$-function $`\delta (𝒓_2𝒓_1)`$ and derivative of this $`\delta `$-function. To account for these terms we represent the self-energy operator as a series in powers of the Coulomb field of the nucleus, $`𝚺=𝚺_0+𝚺_1+𝚺_2+\mathrm{}`$, see Fig.2.

The first two terms in the series, $`𝚺_0`$ and $`𝚺_1`$, require the ultraviolet regularization. It means that they contain terms with the $`\delta `$-function and derivative of the $`\delta `$-function. Both $`𝚺_0`$ and $`𝚺_1`$ depend on the parameter of the ultraviolet regularization. However, the contribution of $`𝚺_{01}=𝚺_0+𝚺_1`$ to $`𝒜_{SE}`$ is independent of the regularization parameter because of the Ward identity. The operators $`𝚺_n`$ ($`n2`$) do not require any regularization. Note that $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1`$ in Eq.(III) corresponds to the contribution of the operators $`𝚺_{2n+1}`$, while $`\mathrm{\Delta }_2`$ corresponds to that of the operators $`𝚺_{2n}`$. Let us represent the self energy operator as $`𝚺=𝚺_{01}+𝚺^{(n>1)}`$. Corresponding contributions to the function $`𝒜_{SE}`$ are $`𝒜_{SE}^{(01)}`$ and $`𝒜_{SE}^{(n>1)}`$, hence

$$𝒜_{SE}=𝒜_{SE}^{(01)}+𝒜_{SE}^{(n>1)}.$$
(19)
The terms singular at $`𝒓_1=𝒓_2`$ contribute only to $`𝒜_{SE}^{(01)}`$. To overcome the problem with singularity we calculate $`𝒜_{SE}^{(01)}`$ using momentum representation and the standard covariant regularization of $`𝚺_0`$ and $`𝚺_1`$ . A simple calculation in the momentum space gives the following expression for $`𝚺_0`$

$`𝚺_0(𝒑_2,𝒑_1)={\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{2\pi }}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{𝒑_2^2}}\right)\vartheta (\mathrm{\Lambda }^2𝒑_2^2)\right]\widehat{p}_2(2\pi )^3\delta (𝒑_2𝒑_1),`$ (20)
where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the parameter of the regularization, and $`\vartheta (x)`$ is the step-function. Because of the Dirac equation, $`\widehat{p}\psi =(Z\alpha /r)\gamma _0\psi `$, the operator $`𝚺_0`$ in the modified Dirac equation can be replaced by

$`\stackrel{~}{𝚺}_0(𝒑_2,𝒑_1)={\displaystyle \frac{2\alpha (Z\alpha )}{(𝒑_2𝒑_1)^2}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{𝒑_2^2}}\right)\vartheta (\mathrm{\Lambda }^2𝒑_2^2)\right]\gamma ^0,`$ (21)
The operator (21) has the same $`\gamma `$-matrix structure as that of $`𝚺_1`$. As a result the sum of $`𝚺_1`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{𝚺}_0`$ is independent of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ :

$`𝚺_{01}(𝒑_2,𝒑_1)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha (Z\alpha )}{(𝒑_2𝒑_1)^2}}\left\{1+2{\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{1}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{1}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dxdy}{T}}\left[x^2y^2(𝒑_2𝒑_1)^2+(1x)(x𝒑_1^2+\widehat{p}_1\widehat{p}_2)\right]\right\}\gamma ^0,`$
$`T`$ $`=`$ $`y(1xy)𝒑_2^2+(1y)(1x+xy)𝒑_1^22xy(1y)𝒑_1𝒑_2.`$ (22)
The Fourier transform of Eqs. (5),(7) gives the following result for the $`s_{1/2}`$ wave function in momentum representation

$$\psi (𝒑)=N\frac{4\pi \mathrm{\Gamma }(\gamma +1)}{p^{\gamma +2}}\left(\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{cos}(\pi \gamma /2)\mathrm{\Omega }\\ (Z\alpha /\gamma )\mathrm{sin}(\pi \gamma /2)(𝝈𝒏_p)\mathrm{\Omega }\end{array}\right),$$
(23)
where $`𝒏_p=𝒑/p`$. Using Eqs. (III), (23), and definition of $`F^{(2)}`$ and $`G^{(2)}`$ given in Eq. (9), we find

$`F_s^{(2)}`$ $`=`$ $`\gamma {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{cos}(\pi \gamma /2)}{\mathrm{sin}(\pi \gamma /2)}}{\displaystyle \frac{p_2^{\gamma +1}}{p_1^{\gamma +2}}\mathrm{\Sigma }_{01}(𝒑_2,𝒑_1)\frac{d𝒑_1}{(2\pi )^3}},`$
$`G_s^{(2)}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{(\gamma ^21)\mathrm{sin}(\pi \gamma /2)}{\gamma \mathrm{cos}(\pi \gamma /2)}}{\displaystyle \frac{p_2^\gamma }{p_1^{\gamma +3}}(𝐩_\mathrm{𝟏}𝐩_\mathrm{𝟐})\mathrm{\Sigma }_{01}(𝒑_2,𝒑_1)\frac{d𝒑_1}{(2\pi )^3}}.`$ (24)
Evaluation of these integrals and substitution of $`F_s^{(2)}`$ and $`G_s^{(2)}`$ in Eq. (13) (see also Eq. (4)) gives

$`𝒜_{SE}^{(01)}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha (Z\alpha )^2}{2\pi \gamma }}[\psi (2+\gamma )+\psi (2\gamma )\psi ({\displaystyle \frac{1+\gamma }{2}})\psi (1{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{2}}){\displaystyle \frac{1\gamma }{2(1+\gamma )}}`$ (25)
$`+\psi (1/2)\psi (1)1+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{\gamma ^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{6}{1\gamma ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{3\pi }{\gamma \mathrm{sin}(\pi \gamma )}}].`$
Here $`\psi (x)=d\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Gamma }(x)/dx`$. The first term of $`Z\alpha `$-expansion of the function $`𝒜_{SE}^{(01)}`$ is $`\alpha (Z\alpha )^2/\pi `$. Note that even at $`Z=90`$ the exact value of $`𝒜_{SE}^{(01)}`$ differs from that given by the first term of the expansion by $`10\%`$ only.

To find $`𝒜_{SE}^{(n>1)}`$ one has to subtract from (III) the contribution (25). To do this we subtract from the integrand in (III) the first term of its $`Z\alpha `$-expansion at fixed $`\gamma `$. The point is that $`\gamma `$ in the integrand comes from the wave function, but not from the self-energy operator. Therefore, doing this subtraction one has to consider $`\gamma `$ as an independent parameter. After the subtraction we make substitutions $`E=\epsilon /2\sqrt{\rho }`$ and $`\rho =\mathrm{exp}(2\tau )`$, and take the integral over the azimuth angle of the vector $`𝝆`$. Altogether this gives

$`𝒜_{SE}^{(n>1)}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\alpha }{\pi \gamma }}{\displaystyle \underset{l=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{1}{\overset{1}{}}}𝑑x{\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{d\epsilon d\tau ds}{𝒟}}\mathrm{exp}\left[\epsilon (𝒟+\mathrm{cosh}\tau \mathrm{coth}s)\right]\mathrm{\Delta },`$
$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ $`=`$ $`x(1+x)B\mathrm{cosh}(2\gamma \tau )\left\{(Z\alpha ){\displaystyle \frac{y}{2}}\left[\mathrm{sin}\varphi I_{2\nu }^{}(y)\varphi I_{2l}^{}(y)\right](Z\alpha )^2\mathrm{coth}s\left[\mathrm{cos}\varphi I_{2\nu }(y)I_{2l}(y)\right]\right\}`$ (26)
$`+(Z\alpha )(1x^2)A\mathrm{cosh}(2\gamma \tau )\left[\mathrm{sin}\varphi I_{2\nu }(y)\varphi I_{2l}(y)\right]`$
$`+\left[\mathrm{cos}\varphi I_{2\nu }(y)I_{2l}(y)\right]\left[(1+x)B{\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon \gamma \mathrm{sinh}\tau \mathrm{sinh}(2\gamma \tau )}{2\mathrm{sinh}^2s}}+(1x)A\mathrm{coth}s\mathrm{cosh}(2\gamma \tau )\right].`$
Here $`𝒟=\sqrt{\mathrm{sinh}^2\tau +(1x)/2}`$, and $`y=\epsilon /\mathrm{sinh}s`$. The leading term of $`Z\alpha `$-expansion of $`𝒜_{SE}^{(n>1)}`$ is

$$\alpha (Z\alpha )^2(\pi ^29)/(6\pi ).$$

It corresponds to the contribution of the operator $`𝚺_2`$. According to Eq. (19), the leading term of $`Z\alpha `$-expansion of $`𝒜_{SE}`$ reads

$`A_{SE}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha (Z\alpha )^2}{6\pi }}(\pi ^23).`$ (27)
Numerical calculation of integrals in Eq. (III) together with Eq. (25) gives the function $`𝒜_{SE}`$ exactly in $`Z\alpha `$. This function is plotted in Fig. 3

## IV Logarithmic contribution of the vertex

Let us consider now the logarithmic contribution of the vertex operator (diagram (f) in Fig.1). According to the rules of the diagram technique, the expression for the vertex correction to the matrix element is of the form

$`M_f=2\alpha {\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}𝑑ϵ{\displaystyle 𝑑𝒓_1𝑑𝒓_2𝑑𝒓_3\overline{\psi }_p(𝒓_2)\gamma _\mu 𝒢(𝒓_2,𝒓_3|iϵ)}`$
$`\times \gamma ^0\gamma ^5\rho (𝒓_3)𝒢(𝒓_3,𝒓_1|iϵ)\gamma ^\mu \psi _s(𝒓_1)D(𝒓_2,𝒓_1|iϵ),`$ (28)
where, as above, we neglect in (IV) the electron mass. We use expansion of the electron Green’s function in spherical waves, see Eq. (III). Because of the contact nature of the weak interaction, only the term with angular momentum $`j=1/2`$ is important in the expansion, this term corresponds to $`l=1`$ in Eq. (III). Note that $`j=1/2`$ dominates only in the calculation with logarithmic accuracy. For a calculation of the constant near the logarithm one has to take into account all the partial waves in spite of the contact nature of the weak interaction. Now we calculate only the logarithmic contribution. The logarithmic contribution to the amplitude $`M_f`$ comes from the region of integration $`r_1r_2`$, $`\lambda _Cr_{1,2}r_3r_0`$, $`ϵ\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}/r_{1,2}`$. In this case the parameter $`s`$ in the integral representation Eq.(III) is of the order of unity, $`s1`$, and hence the argument of the Bessel function is small, $`y(r_3/r_{1,2})^{1/2}1`$. Expanding Bessel functions we transform Eq.(III) to the following form

$`𝒢(𝒓_2,𝒓_1|iϵ)={\displaystyle \frac{i}{4\pi r_1r_2\mathrm{\Gamma }(2\gamma +1)}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑s\mathrm{exp}\left[\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}iZ\alpha \lambda sk(r_2+r_1)\mathrm{coth}s\right]`$
$`\times \left({\displaystyle \frac{k\sqrt{r_2r_1}}{\mathrm{sinh}s}}\right)^{2\gamma }\{[1(𝜸𝒏_2)(𝜸𝒏_1)]\gamma ^0(\gamma \lambda iZ\alpha \mathrm{coth}s)+[1+(𝜸𝒏_2)(𝜸𝒏_1)]\gamma ^0\lambda `$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{k(r_2r_1)}{2\mathrm{sinh}^2s}}(𝜸,𝒏_2+𝒏_1)(𝜸,𝒏_2𝒏_1)\mathrm{coth}s\}.`$ (29)
It is convenient to perform integration by parts over $`s`$ in the term proportional to $`(r_2r_1)`$. After that we substitute (IV) in equation (IV) and take the integral over $`𝒓_3`$. As a result we get

$`M_f={\displaystyle \frac{\alpha r_0^{2(\gamma 1)}}{2\pi ^2\mathrm{\Gamma }^2(2\gamma +1)}}{\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}𝑑ϵ{\displaystyle \frac{d𝒓_1d𝒓_2}{r_1r_2}\underset{\lambda =\pm 1}{}\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}𝑑s_1𝑑s_2\mathrm{exp}\left[\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}iZ\alpha \lambda (s_1+s_2)ϵ(r_1\mathrm{coth}s_1+r_2\mathrm{coth}s_2)\right]}`$
$`\times \left({\displaystyle \frac{ϵ^2\sqrt{r_1r_2}}{\mathrm{sinh}s_1\mathrm{sinh}s_2}}\right)^{2\gamma }\overline{\psi }_p(𝒓_2)\{\gamma ^0[1(𝜸𝒏_1)(𝜸𝒏_2)](1\mathrm{coth}s_1\mathrm{coth}s_2)+\gamma ^0[1+(𝜸𝒏_1)(𝜸𝒏_2)]`$
$`\times \left[\gamma \left(1+\mathrm{coth}s_1\mathrm{coth}s_2\right)iZ\alpha \lambda \left(\mathrm{coth}s_1+\mathrm{coth}s_2\right)\right]+\lambda (𝜸,𝒏_1+𝒏_2)\left(\mathrm{coth}s_1\mathrm{coth}s_2\right)`$
$`+(𝜸,𝒏_1𝒏_2)[\gamma \lambda (\mathrm{coth}s_1+\mathrm{coth}s_2)iZ\alpha (\mathrm{coth}s_1\mathrm{coth}s_2+1)]\}\gamma ^5\psi _s(𝒓_1)D(𝒓_2,𝒓_1|iϵ).`$ (30)
Then we substitute the photon propagator (17) and the electron wave functions (5), (7), and find the following expression for the relative correction $`\delta _f`$

$`\delta _f`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{8\pi ^3\mathrm{\Gamma }^2(2\gamma +1)}}{\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}dϵ{\displaystyle }{\displaystyle }{\displaystyle \frac{d𝒓_1d𝒓_2}{r_1^2r_2^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{exp}(ϵR)}{R}}{\displaystyle \underset{\lambda =\pm 1}{}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}ds_1ds_2\mathrm{exp}[\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}iZ\alpha \lambda (s_1+s_2)`$
$`ϵ(r_1\mathrm{coth}s_1+r_2\mathrm{coth}s_2)\left]\right({\displaystyle \frac{ϵ^2r_1r_2}{\mathrm{sinh}s_1\mathrm{sinh}s_2}})^{2\gamma },`$
$``$ $`=`$ $`(1x^2)(1\gamma )\left[(1+\gamma )\mathrm{coth}s_1\mathrm{coth}s_2(1\gamma )iZ\alpha \lambda \left(\mathrm{coth}s_1+\mathrm{coth}s_2\right)\right]+2(1x\mathrm{coth}s_1\mathrm{coth}s_2),`$
$`R`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{r_1^2+r_2^22xr_1r_2},x=𝒏_1𝒏_2.`$ (31)
At the next step we introduce new variables $`\rho `$, $`t`$, $`E`$ via the relations $`r_1=\rho t`$, $`r_2=\rho /t`$, $`ϵ\sqrt{r_1r_2}=E`$, perform integration over $`\rho `$ with logarithmic accuracy in limits $`r_0<\rho <\lambda _C`$, and take integrals over all the angles except of the angle between vectors $`𝒓_1`$ and $`𝒓_2`$. This gives the following expression for the contribution of the vertex operator to the function $`𝒜`$ defined in Eq.(4):

$`𝒜_V`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\alpha }{\pi \mathrm{\Gamma }^2(2\gamma +1)}}{\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}dE{\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dt}{t}}{\displaystyle \underset{1}{\overset{1}{}}}dx{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{exp}(ER)}{R}}{\displaystyle \underset{\lambda =\pm 1}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}ds_1ds_2\mathrm{exp}[\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}iZ\alpha \lambda (s_1+s_2)`$ (32)
$`E(t\mathrm{coth}s_1+(1/t)\mathrm{coth}s_2)\left]\right({\displaystyle \frac{E^2}{\mathrm{sinh}s_1\mathrm{sinh}s_2}})^{2\gamma }.`$
Here $`R=\sqrt{t^2+1/t^22x}`$ and $``$ is defined in (IV). A simple integration over $`E`$ leads to

$`𝒜_V`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\alpha \mathrm{\Gamma }(4\gamma +1)}{\pi \mathrm{\Gamma }^2(2\gamma +1)}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dt}{t}}{\displaystyle _1^1}{\displaystyle \frac{dx}{R}}{\displaystyle \underset{\lambda =\pm 1}{}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{ds_1ds_2\mathrm{exp}[\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}iZ\alpha \lambda (s_1+s_2)]}{(\mathrm{sinh}s_1\mathrm{sinh}s_2)^{2\gamma }}}`$ (33)
$`\times {\displaystyle \frac{}{[t\mathrm{coth}s_1+(1/t)\mathrm{coth}s_2+R]^{4\gamma +1}}}.`$
The last integration which can be performed analytically is the integration over $`x`$. The result is rather cumbersome:

$`𝒜_V`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha \mathrm{\Gamma }(4\gamma +1)}{\pi \gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }^2(2\gamma +1)}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dt}{t}}{\displaystyle \underset{\lambda =\pm 1}{}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{ds_1ds_2\mathrm{exp}[\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}iZ\alpha \lambda (s_1+s_2)]}{(\mathrm{sinh}s_1\mathrm{sinh}s_2)^{2\gamma }}}`$ (34)
$`\times \{[{\displaystyle \frac{(1\mathrm{coth}s_1\mathrm{coth}s_2)}{D_{}^{4\gamma }}}{\displaystyle \frac{(1+\mathrm{coth}s_1\mathrm{coth}s_2)}{D_+^{4\gamma }}}]`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\gamma 1}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{|t1/t|(Q+\mathrm{coth}s_1\mathrm{coth}s_2)}{D_{}^{4\gamma 1}}}{\displaystyle \frac{(t+1/t)(Q+\mathrm{coth}s_1\mathrm{coth}s_2)}{D_+^{4\gamma 1}}}\right]+`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(4\gamma 1)(4\gamma 2)}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{Q(3t^21/t^2)+\mathrm{coth}s_1\mathrm{coth}s_2}{D_{}^{4\gamma 2}}}{\displaystyle \frac{Q(3t^21/t^2)+\mathrm{coth}s_1\mathrm{coth}s_2}{D_+^{4\gamma 2}}}\right]`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{3Q}{(4\gamma 1)(4\gamma 2)(4\gamma 3)}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{|t1/t|}{D_{}^{4\gamma 3}}}{\displaystyle \frac{(t+1/t)}{D_+^{4\gamma 3}}}\right]`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{3Q}{(4\gamma 1)(4\gamma 2)(4\gamma 3)(4\gamma 4)}}[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{D_{}^{4\gamma 4}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{D_+^{4\gamma 4}}}]\}.`$
The following notation are used:

$`Q`$ $`=`$ $`(1\gamma )\left[(1+\gamma )\mathrm{coth}s_1\mathrm{coth}s_2(1\gamma )iZ\alpha \lambda (\mathrm{coth}s_1+\mathrm{coth}s_2)\right],`$
$`D_{}`$ $`=`$ $`t\mathrm{coth}s_1+(1/t)\mathrm{coth}s_2+|t1/t|,D_+=t\mathrm{coth}s_1+(1/t)\mathrm{coth}s_2+(t+1/t).`$ (35)
The part of the vertex that is independent of $`Z\alpha `$ requires the ultraviolet regularization and hence is dependent on the regularization parameter. In fact we have put the regularization parameter to be equal to $`1/r_0`$. The corresponding $`Z`$-independent term in Eq.(34) equals to $`\alpha /2\pi `$. One should also take into account the term that provides the correct normalization of the total wave function, see e.g. Ref.Pach96 ,

$`\delta _N`$ $`=`$ $`\alpha {\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}𝑑ϵ{\displaystyle 𝑑𝒓_1𝑑𝒓_2𝑑𝒓_3\overline{\psi }_p(𝒓_2)\gamma _\mu 𝒢(𝒓_2,𝒓_3|iϵ)}`$ (36)
$`\times \gamma ^0𝒢(𝒓_3,𝒓_1|iϵ)\gamma ^\mu \psi _p(𝒓_1)D(𝒓_2,𝒓_1|iϵ)`$
$`+(\psi _p\psi _s).`$
Straightforward calculation of this contribution with logarithmic accuracy gives $`\alpha L/2\pi `$. Note that there are no $`Z`$-dependent logarithmic terms in (36). As a result the ”normalization” contribution cancels out exactly the $`Z`$-independent term in $`𝒜_V`$. In essence this cancellation is a direct consequence of the Ward identity. The leading term of $`Z\alpha `$-dependent part of $`𝒜_V`$ at $`Z\alpha 1`$ reads

$`𝒜_V={\displaystyle \frac{\alpha (Z\alpha )^2}{\pi }}\left({\displaystyle \frac{17}{4}}{\displaystyle \frac{\pi ^2}{3}}\right).`$ (37)
Numerical calculation of integrals in Eq. (34) together with account of the normalization contribution (36) gives the function $`𝒜_V`$ exactly in $`Z\alpha `$. This function is plotted in Fig. 4

Equations (27) and (37) give the final result for $`𝒜`$ at $`Z\alpha 1`$

$`𝒜=𝒜_{SE}+𝒜_V={\displaystyle \frac{\alpha (Z\alpha )^2}{\pi }}\left({\displaystyle \frac{15}{4}}{\displaystyle \frac{\pi ^2}{6}}\right).`$ (38)
The function $`𝒜(Z\alpha )`$ with account of all orders in $`Z\alpha `$ is plotted in Fig. 5

## V Linear in $`Z\alpha `$ radiative corrections

In the leading $`\alpha (Z\alpha )`$ approximation, it is convenient to derive the non-logarithmic term of the radiative correction using the effective operator approach, see e. g. Ref. Eides . In this approach the corrections under discussion coincide with those for the $`𝝈𝒑`$ structure in the amplitude of low-energy forward scattering. Diagrams for the scattering amplitude are shown in Fig.6. Below we double the contribution of each diagram because of permutation of Z-boson and Coulomb lines.

In these amplitudes the momentum $`|𝒑|`$ of the external electron is small compared to the momentum of the Coulomb quantum, $`km`$. Renormalization procedures for the self-energy operator and for the photon vertex operator are standard ones. For the Z-boson vertex we have to set the vertex correction equal to zero at $`k=0`$ because as a reference point we use result Mar1  that is normalized at $`k=0`$. To minimize the infrared problems we perform calculations in the Fried-Yennie gauge FY  where the photon propagator is of the form

$`D_{\mu \nu }(q)={\displaystyle \frac{g_{\mu \nu }q^2+2q_\mu q_\nu }{(q^2+i0)^2}}.`$ (39)
This gauge does not require an introduction of the photon mass for infrared regularization. In this gauge the renormalized self-energy operator has the form Eides

$$𝚺(p)=\frac{3\alpha \widehat{p}(\widehat{p}m)^2}{4\pi m^2(1\rho )}\left(1+\frac{\rho }{1\rho }\mathrm{ln}\rho \right),$$
(40)
where $`\rho =1p^2/m^2`$. Calculating the diagram Fig.6(a) with this self-energy operator we obtain the following contribution to the function $``$ defined in Eq. (4)

$$_a=\frac{5}{4}\alpha (Z\alpha ).$$
(41)
A straightforward calculation leads to the following expression for the renormalized correction to the photon vertex operator

$`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\alpha ={\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{4\pi }}\{3\gamma _\alpha {\displaystyle _0^1}dy(\mathrm{ln}[1+\tau y(1y)]+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}})+{\displaystyle _0^1}dy{\displaystyle _0^1}{\displaystyle \frac{dx}{m^2T}}`$ (42)
$`\times \left[x^2\left(b^2\gamma _\alpha +2\widehat{b}\gamma _\alpha \widehat{b}\right)+2x\left(\gamma _\alpha \widehat{p}_2\widehat{b}+\widehat{b}\widehat{p}_1\gamma _\alpha \widehat{b}\gamma _\alpha \widehat{p}_1\widehat{p}_2\gamma _\alpha \widehat{b}+6mb_\alpha \right)+(x2)\gamma _\mu (\widehat{p}_1+m)\gamma _\alpha (\widehat{p}_2+m)\gamma _\mu \right]`$
$`+{\displaystyle _0^1}dy{\displaystyle _0^1}{\displaystyle \frac{(1x)xdx}{m^4T^2}}\left[2\widehat{b}(\widehat{p}_1+m)\gamma _\alpha (\widehat{p}_2+m)\widehat{b}\right]\}.`$
Here the incoming electron has the momentum $`p_2`$ and outgoing electron the momentum $`p_1=p_2+k`$,

$$b=[p_1(1y)+p_2y],T=x+\tau y(1xy)+\lambda y(1x),\tau =\frac{𝒌^2}{m^2},\lambda =\frac{2𝒑𝒌}{m^2}.$$

Performing calculations with this vertex function we find the contribution of the diagram Fig.6(b)

$$_b=\alpha (Z\alpha )\left(\frac{7}{12}\frac{8}{3}\mathrm{ln}2\right).$$
(43)
The renormilized correction to the $`Z`$-boson vertex reads

$`Ł_\alpha ={\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{4\pi }}\{\gamma _\alpha {\displaystyle _0^1}dy(3\mathrm{ln}[1+\tau y(1y)]{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}})+{\displaystyle _0^1}dy{\displaystyle _0^1}{\displaystyle \frac{dx}{m^2T}}`$ (44)
$`\times [x^2(b^2\gamma _\alpha +2\widehat{b}\gamma _\alpha \widehat{b})+2x(\gamma _\alpha \widehat{p}_2\widehat{b}+\widehat{b}\widehat{p}_1\gamma _\alpha \widehat{b}\gamma _\alpha \widehat{p}_1\widehat{p}_2\gamma _\alpha \widehat{b}+m(\widehat{b}\gamma _\alpha \gamma _\alpha \widehat{b}))`$
$`+(2+x)\gamma _\mu (\widehat{p}_1+m)\gamma _\alpha (\widehat{p}_2m)\gamma _\mu ]+{\displaystyle _0^1}dy{\displaystyle _0^1}{\displaystyle \frac{(1x)xdx}{m^4T^2}}\left[2\widehat{b}(\widehat{p}_1+m)\gamma _\alpha (\widehat{p}_2m)\widehat{b}\right]\}\gamma _5.`$
Calculation with this vertex function gives the following contribution of the diagram Fig.6(c)

$$_c=\alpha (Z\alpha )\left(\frac{1}{4}\frac{10}{3}\mathrm{ln}2\right).$$
(45)
The last diagram, Fig.6(d), does not require any renormalization. A straightforward calculation gives

$$_d=\alpha (Z\alpha )\left(\frac{3}{2}+4\mathrm{ln}2\right).$$
(46)
Altogether, the result for the non-logarithmic term in Eq.(4) reads

$$=_a+_b+_c+_d=\alpha (Z\alpha )\left(\frac{7}{12}+2\mathrm{ln}2\right).$$
(47)
Thus, according to Eqs. (4), (38), and (47) total relative correction in the leading $`Z\alpha `$-approximation reads

$`\delta _{ef}`$ $`=`$ $`\alpha \left[(Z\alpha )\left({\displaystyle \frac{7}{12}}+2\mathrm{ln}2\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{(Z\alpha )^2}{\pi }}\left({\displaystyle \frac{15}{4}}{\displaystyle \frac{\pi ^2}{6}}\right)\mathrm{ln}(b\lambda _C/r_0)\right].`$ (48)
The curve corresponding to this formula is shown in Fig.7 by the dotted line pnc1. By the dashed line pnc2 we show the correction $`\delta _{ef}`$ calculated with the exact in $`Z\alpha `$ function $`𝒜`$. The solid line pnc in the same Fig.7 shows the total radiative correction to the PNC effect that includes both $`\delta _{ef}`$ and $`\delta _b`$ (Eq.(2), Fig.1(b)). The leading unaccounted contribution in $`\delta _{ef}`$ is of the order of $`Z^2\alpha ^3/\pi `$. For Cs (Z=55) this gives about 5% uncertainty in $`\delta _{ef}`$.

## VI Radiative corrections to the finite-nuclear-size effect

The radiative shift of the atomic energy levels (Lamb shift) depends on the finite nuclear size. This correction has a very similar structure to that of the PNC radiative correction since the effective sizes of the perturbation sources in both cases are much smaller than $`\lambda _C`$. The self-energy and the vertex corrections to the finite-nuclear-size effect (SEVFNS) for $`s_{1/2}`$-state have been calculated earlier analytically in order $`\alpha (Z\alpha )`$ in Refs.Pach93 ; PG . The corrections for $`1s_{1/2}`$-, $`2s_{1/2}`$-, and $`2p_{1/2}`$-states have been calculated numerically exactly in $`Z\alpha `$ in Refs.CJS93 ; Blun92 ; LPSY . However, the structure of higher in $`Z\alpha `$ corrections and their logarithmic dependence on the nuclear size has not been understood. We have applied our approach to the SEVFNS problem and found the following expression for the $`s_{1/2}`$-state relative correction in the leading $`Z\alpha `$-approximation

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_s=\alpha \left[(Z\alpha )\left({\displaystyle \frac{23}{4}}4\mathrm{ln}2\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{(Z\alpha )^2}{\pi }}\left({\displaystyle \frac{15}{4}}{\displaystyle \frac{\pi ^2}{6}}\right)\mathrm{ln}(b\lambda _C/r_0)\right].`$ (49)
Linear in $`Z\alpha `$ term agrees with results of Refs. Pach93 ; PG . The correction $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s`$ given by Eq. (49) is shown in Fig. 7 by the dotted line fs1. By the dashed line fs2 we show the correction $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s`$ calculated with the exact in $`Z\alpha `$ function $`𝒜`$. Results of the computations CJS93 ; JS  for $`1s`$ and $`2s`$ states are shown by circles and diamonds, respectively. The agreement is excellent.

Note that logarithmic terms ($`\mathrm{ln}(b\lambda _C/r_0)`$) in $`\delta _{ef}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s`$ coincide. This statement is valid in all orders in $`Z\alpha `$. Moreover, the logarithmic term in the SEVFNS correction $`\mathrm{\Delta }_p`$ for $`p_{1/2}`$ state is also equal to that in $`\delta _{ef}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s`$. The reason for this equality is very simple. The logarithmic terms come from small distances ($`r<<\lambda _C`$) where the electron mass can be neglected. When the mass is neglected the relative matrix elements for the PNC radiative correction and for SEVFNS are equal.

The correction $`\mathrm{\Delta }_p`$ is calculated in our work com . The result reads

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_p=\alpha \left[{\displaystyle \frac{8}{9\pi }}\left(\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(Z\alpha )^2}}+0.910\right)+2.75(Z\alpha )+{\displaystyle \frac{(Z\alpha )^2}{\pi }}\left({\displaystyle \frac{15}{4}}{\displaystyle \frac{\pi ^2}{6}}\right)\mathrm{ln}(b\lambda _C/r_0)\right].`$ (50)
Structure of this correction is qualitatively different from that of $`\delta _{ef}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s`$, the expansion starts from $`\alpha \mathrm{ln}(1/Z\alpha )`$ term, while in $`\delta _{ef}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s`$ it starts from $`Z\alpha ^2`$. This difference is due to the different infrared dynamics, see discussion in com .

It has been suggested in Ref. K  that the relation $`\delta _{ef}=(\mathrm{\Delta }_s+\mathrm{\Delta }_p)/2`$ is valid. Our results (48), (49), and (50) clearly disagree with this relation. Although, due to accidental compensations, the relation is more or less valid numerically around $`Z57`$, we strongly insist that there is no valid justification for the relation. The ”derivation” in Ref. K  is based on an assumption that there is a gauge in which the vertex contributions to $`\delta _{ef}`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s`$, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_p`$ vanish simultaneously. This assumption is obviously wrong, and this is why the above relation is wrong.

## VII Conclusion

Now we can perform a consistent analysis of the experimental data on atomic parity violation since all the contributions are known. In our analysis for Cs we include the theoretical value of the PNC amplitude from Refs. Dzuba2 ; Blundell ; Kozlov ; DFG

$$E_{PNC}=0.908(1\pm 0.005)10^{11}iea_B(Q_W/N),$$
(51)
as well as the $`0.61\%`$ correction due to the Breit interaction DHJS , the $`0.85\%`$ radiative correction calculated in the present work, the $`+0.42\%`$ vacuum polarization correction W ; MiSu , the $`0.2\%`$ neutron skin correction Der1 , the $`0.08\%`$ correction due to the renormalization of $`Q_W`$ from the atomic momentum transfer $`q30`$MeV down to $`q=0`$ MiSu , and the $`+0.04\%`$ contribution from the electron-electron weak interaction MiSu . The theoretical uncertainty from the $`Z^2\alpha ^3/\pi `$ term unaccounted in the present calculation is about $`0.050.1\%`$. In Ref. Cs  the ratio $`E_{PNC}/\beta `$ has been measured with 0.35% accuracy. Here $`\beta `$ is the vector transition polarizability. An analysis of the recent data on $`\beta `$ has been performed in Ref.DFG . We use the value $`\beta =26.99(5)a_B^3`$ obtained in DFG . Combining all these results we obtain the following value of the nuclear weak charge $`Q_W`$ at zero momentum transfer

$$Cs:Q_W=72.81\pm (0.28)_{ex}\pm (0.36)_{theor}.$$
(52)
This value agrees with prediction of the standard model, $`Q_W=73.09\pm 0.03`$, see Ref. RPP . We have used the neutron skin correction in our analysis. However, in our opinion, status of this correction is not quite clear because data on the neutron distribution used in Ref. Der1  are not quite consistent with data on the neutron distributions obtained from proton scattering, see e. g. Ref. LIYAF .

In the analysis for Tl we have included the theoretical value of the PNC amplitude from Refs. Dzuba1 , as well as the $`0.88\%`$ correction due to the Breit interaction rescale , the $`1.48`$% radiative correction calculated in the present work, the $`+0.90\%`$ vacuum polarization correction MiSu , the $`0.2\%`$ neutron skin correction, the $`0.08\%`$ correction due to the renormalization of $`Q_W`$ from the atomic momentum transfer $`q30`$MeV down to $`q=0`$ MiSu , and the $`+0.01\%`$ contribution from the electron-electron weak interaction MiSu . Using these theoretical results we obtain from the data Tl  the following value of the nuclear weak charge $`Q_W`$ at zero momentum transfer

$$Tl:Q_W=116.8\pm (1.2)_{ex}\pm (3.4)_{theor}.$$
(53)
This agrees with prediction of the standard model, $`Q_W=116.7\pm 0.1`$, see Ref. RPP . Values of the weak charge $`Q_W`$ obtained in the present work differ a little from that reported in Mil . There are two reasons for the difference, a) in the present work we have used a slightly different value for Cs vector transition polarizability, this value is probably more accurate, b) in the present work calculation of the logarithmic term in the radiative correction is performed exactly in $`Z\alpha `$, while in Mil  we have used only the leading term of $`Z\alpha `$-expansion.

Concluding, we have calculated the radiative corrections to the effect of atomic parity violation, the corrections are enhanced by the collective electric field of the nucleus . This calculation has allowed us to perform a consistent analysis of the experimental data on the nuclear weak charge. Agreement with the standard model is within $`0.6\sigma `$.

We would like to thank V. A. Dzuba for helpful discussions. A.I.M gratefully acknowledge the School of Physics at the University of New South Wales for warm hospitality and financial support during a visit.