Radiation reaction and vacuum fluctuations in spontaneous emission

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Abstract
A Heisenberg-picture treatment of spontaneous emission is given, and the origin of radiative line shifts and widths is discussed. It is shown that radiation reaction and vacuum fluctuations provide complementary conceptual bases for the interpretation of these radiative corrections. Alternative approaches are discussed, including the use of a random classical field to simulate the effects of the quantum-electrodynamical radiation field.