Semi- and non-relativistic limit of the Dirac dynamics with external fields (Q2377335)

The objective of this paper is to approximate the full dynamics of the Dirac Hamiltonian \(\hat{H}_D\) for electronic (\(E > 0\)) initial states by effective Hamiltonians. Two choices of effective Hamiltonians were identified: a semi-relativistic and a non-relativistic ones, where the kinetic energies are related to \(\sqrt{m^2 + \xi^2}\) and \(\xi^2/2m\), respectively, where \(m\) and \(\xi\) denotes mass and momentum. These are derived by making a choice of scaling of the kinetic momentum operator, that is, either one writes \(\hat{H}_D\) in terms of the semi-relativistic kinetic momentum operator \(P_{sr}^A = -i \frac{\epsilon}{c}\nabla - \frac{e}{c^2}A\) or in terms of the non-relativistic kinetic momentum \(P_{nr}^A = c P_{sr}^A\). Taking \(P_{sr}^A\) as kinetic energy operator yields semi-relativistic effective dynamics, while taking \(P_{nr}^A\) as kinetic energy operator yields non-relativistic effective dynamics. The effective dynamics are derived using a so-called \textit{magnetic} pseudodifferential calculus in space-adiabatic perturbation theory. The authors also compare and contrast their work to some previous ones.