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

We calculate the self-energy and the vertex radiative corrections to the effect of parity nonconservation in heavy atoms. The sum of the corrections is of the form A ln(λC/r0)+B, where A and B are functions of Zα, and λC and r0 are the Compton wavelength and the nuclear radius, respectively. The function A is calculated exactly in Zα and the function B is calculated in the leading order. In the leading order A∝α(Zα)2 and B∝α(Zα). The sum of the corrections is -0.85% for Cs and -1.48% for Tl. Using these results, we have performed an analysis of the experimental data on atomic parity nonconservation. The values obtained for the nuclear weak charge, QW=-72.81(28)expt(36)theor for Cs and QW=-116.8(1.2)expt(3.4)theor for Tl, agree with the predictions of the standard model within 0.6σ. As an application of our approach we have also calculated the dependence of the Lamb shift on the finite nuclear size