Solutions of the Maxwell equations and photon wave functions

DOI10.1016/J.AOP.2009.11.007MaRDI QIDQ2379286zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Peter J. Mohr

Publication date 19 March 2010

Published in Annals of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/0910.1874

zbMATH Keywords

closed and approximate solutions to the Schrödinger, Dirac, Klein-Gordon and other equations of quantum mechanicselectromagnetic interactionquantum electrodynamics

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Electromagnetic theory (general) (78A25) Closed and approximate solutions to the Schrödinger, Dirac, Klein-Gordon and other equations of quantum mechanics (81Q05) Electromagnetic interaction; quantum electrodynamics (81V10)

Abstract: Properties of six-component electromagnetic field solutions of a matrix form of the Maxwell equations, analogous to the four-component solutions of the Dirac equation, are described. It is shown that the six-component equation, including sources, is invariant under Lorentz transformations. Complete sets of eigenfunctions of the Hamiltonian for the electromagnetic fields, which may be interpreted as photon wave functions, are given both for plane waves and for angular-momentum eigenstates. Rotationally invariant projection operators are used to identify transverse or longitudinal electric and magnetic fields. For plane waves, the velocity transformed transverse wave functions are also transverse, and the velocity transformed longitudinal wave functions include both longitudinal and transverse components. A suitable sum over these eigenfunctions provides a Green function for the matrix Maxwell equation, which can be expressed in the same covariant form as the Green function for the Dirac equation. Radiation from a dipole source and from a Dirac atomic transition current are calculated to illustrate applications of the Maxwell Green function.

Review text

The Maxwell equations of electrodynamics are re-written in the representation of a six-component field. In this representation, the Maxwell field equations become similar to a single Dirac equation but with six components. The symmetry properties of this Dirac-like equation are then thoroughly analyzed. Solutions of this equation are explicitly worked out. These solutions are obtained without recursion to the (unphysical) vector potential. In this way, the ambiguities associated to gauge invariance are avoided. A complete set of eigenfunctions of the Hamiltonian of the system as well as of the linear and angular momentum are calculated. These eigenfunctions are further classified into ``transverse (associated to electrostatic interactions) and ``longitudinal (associated to radiation field) states. A suitable sum of these eigenvalues provides a Green function for the Maxwell equations in this six-component form. It is also shown that, for a wavepacket, the expectation value of the Hamiltonian is exactly \(\hbar\omega_0\) (with \(\omega_0\) frequency associated with the wavevector of the packet) as expected for a photon.

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Cited in

(15)

• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3132492 (Why is no real title available?)
• Optical Dirac equation
• Can the 6-component Weinberg-Tucker-Hammer equations describe the electromagnetic field?
• Particle states of the radiation field
• Finite precision function theory and photon solution of Einstein-Maxwell equations
• Maxwell equations and the redundant gauge degree of freedom
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 4038373 (Why is no real title available?)
• Sources, potentials and fields in Lorenz and Coulomb gauge: cancellation of instantaneous interactions for moving point charges
• Transverse and longitudinal components of the optical self-, near-, middle- and far-field
• On the quantum-mechanics of a single photon
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• A soft-photon theorem for the Maxwell-Lorentz system
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• On the Majorana representation of the optical Dirac equation
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