Circulation of electromagnetic energy in atoms: Poynting’s vector

Abstract

This paper proposes a fundamentally new approach to the study of stationary states in atoms, which is based on the analysis of the energy of electric and magnetic fields. The circulation of the electromagnetic field in the stationary states of the atom was discovered and the mechanism of optical transitions due to the continuous change of the circulating energy was clarified. The difference between circulating energy flows in the initial and final states is emitted (or absorbed) in the form of a quantum of light. A universal relation for determining the lifetime of excited states is proposed.