How (not) to teach Lorentz covariance of the Dirac equation

DOI10.1088/0143-0807/35/3/035003MaRDI QIDQ4979673zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Hrvoje Nikolić

Publication date 24 June 2014

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

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1309.7070

zbMATH Keywords

Dirac equationLorentz covariancescalar wave function

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Closed and approximate solutions to the Schrödinger, Dirac, Klein-Gordon and other equations of quantum mechanics (81Q05) Covariant wave equations in quantum theory, relativistic quantum mechanics (81R20) Education and instruction in mathematics (97D99)

Abstract: In the textbook proofs of Lorentz covariance of the Dirac equation, one treats the wave function as a spinor and gamma matrices as scalars, leading to a quite complicated formalism with several pedagogic drawbacks. As an alternative, I propose to teach Dirac equation and its Lorentz covariance by using a much simpler, but physically equivalent formalism, in which these drawbacks do not appear. In this alternative formalism, the wave function transforms as a scalar and gamma matrices as components of a vector, such that the standard physically relevant bilinear combinations do not change their transformation properties. The alternative formalism allows also a natural construction of some additional non-standard bilinear combinations with well-defined transformation properties.

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Cited in

(2)

• On the second dipole moment of Dirac's particle
• Dirac equation from stereographic projection of the momentum sphere

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