Order alpha^7 ln(1/alpha) Contribution to Positronium Hyperfine Splitting

Abstract

The logarithmically enhanced alpha^7 ln(1/alpha) contribution to the hyperfine splitting of the positronium ground-state energy levels is calculated in the framework of dimensionally regularized nonrelativistic quantum electrodynamics. The correction is negative and amounts to about 1/3 of the leading logarithmic alpha^7 ln^2(1/alpha) one. The discrepancy between the experimental measurements and the theoretical prediction is reduced.

Comments: 8 pages (Latex)