Variational methods in relativistic quantum mechanics

DOI10.1090/S0273-0979-08-01212-3zbMATH Open1288.49016arXiv0706.3309OpenAlexW2159104017MaRDI QIDQ3528012FDOQ3528012

Authors: Maria J. Esteban, M. Lewin, Éric Séré 

Publication date: 2 October 2008

Published in: Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: This review is devoted to the study of stationary solutions of linear and nonlinear equations from relativistic quantum mechanics, involving the Dirac operator. The solutions are found as critical points of an energy functional. Contrary to the Laplacian appearing in the equations of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, the Dirac operator has a negative continuous spectrum which is not bounded from below. This has two main consequences. First, the energy functional is strongly indefinite. Second, the Euler-Lagrange equations are linear or nonlinear eigenvalue problems with eigenvalues lying in a spectral gap (between the negative and positive continuous spectra). Moreover, since we work in the space domain R^3, the Palais-Smale condition is not satisfied. For these reasons, the problems discussed in this review pose a challenge in the Calculus of Variations. The existence proofs involve sophisticated tools from nonlinear analysis and have required new variational methods which are now applied to other problems.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3309

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zbMATH Keywords

critical pointsvariational methodsDirac operatorground statenonlinear eigenvalue problemsquantum electrodynamicsrelativistic quantum mechanicsquantum chemistrymean-field approximationstrongly indefinite functionalsnonrelativistic limitHartree-Fock equationsDirac-Fock equationsBogoliubov-Dirac-Fock method

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Nonlinear elliptic equations (35J60) Nonlinear eigenvalue problems and nonlinear spectral theory for PDEs (35P30) Variational principles of physics (49S05) Closed and approximate solutions to the Schrödinger, Dirac, Klein-Gordon and other equations of quantum mechanics (81Q05) Atomic physics (81V45) Molecular physics (81V55) Many-body theory; quantum Hall effect (81V70) PDEs in connection with relativity and gravitational theory (35Q75)

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