Bound-state perturbation theory and annihilation effects in positronium

Working in Coulomb gauge and using the lowest-order equation proposed by Barbieri and Remiddi it is calculated, in the one-loop order of perturbation theory, the decay rate and the energy shift of the ground states of parapositronium and orthopositronium, respectively. Our result for the decay rate agrees with that of Harris and Brown. For contribution of one-photon-annihilation channel to the energy shift, it is confirmed the result of Karplus and Klein. These results are derived completely within the bound-state formalism and avoid the necessity of performing on-mass-shell wave function and vertex renormalization subtractions