Particle Physics

Michaelmas Term 2011

Prof. Mark Thomson

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Handout 2 : The Dirac Equation

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Non-Relativistic QM (Revision)
For particle physics need a relativistic formulation of quantum mechanics. But
first take a few moments to review the non-relativistic formulation QM
Take as the starting point non-relativistic energy:

In QM we identify the energy and momentum operators:

which gives the time dependent Schrdinger equation (take V=0 for simplicity)

(S1)
with plane wave solutions:

where

The SE is first order in the time derivatives and second order in spatial
derivatives and is manifestly not Lorentz invariant.
In what follows we will use probability density/current extensively. For
the non-relativistic case these are derived as follows

(S1)*

(S2)

Which by comparison with the continuity equation

leads to the following expressions for probability density and current:

For a plane wave

and
The number of particles per unit volume is
For
particles per unit volume moving at velocity , have
passing
through a unit area per unit time (particle flux). Therefore is a vector in the
particles direction with magnitude equal to the flux.

The Klein-Gordon Equation

Applying

to the relativistic equation for energy:

(KG1)
gives the Klein-Gordon equation:

(KG2)
Using
KG can be expressed compactly as
For plane wave solutions,

(KG3)
, the KG equation gives:

Not surprisingly, the KG equation has negative energy solutions this is

just what we started with in eq. KG1
Historically the ve energy solutions were viewed as problematic. But for the KG
there is also a problem with the probability density

Proceeding as before to calculate the probability and current densities:

(KG2)*

(KG4)

Which, again, by comparison with the continuity equation allows us to identify

For a plane wave

and
Particle densities are proportional to E. We might have anticipated this from the
previous discussion of Lorentz invariant phase space (i.e. density of 1/V in the
particles rest frame will appear as E/V in a frame where the particle has energy E
due to length contraction).

The Dirac Equation

Historically, it was thought that there were two main problems with the
Klein-Gordon equation:
Negative energy solutions
The negative particle densities associated with these solutions
We now know that in Quantum Field Theory these problems are
overcome and the KG equation is used to describe spin-0 particles
(inherently single particle description multi-particle quantum
excitations of a scalar field).
Nevertheless:
These problems motivated Dirac (1928) to search for a
different formulation of relativistic quantum mechanics
in which all particle densities are positive.
The resulting wave equation had solutions which not only
solved this problem but also fully describe the
intrinsic spin and magnetic moment of the electron!

The Dirac Equation :

Schrdinger eqn:

1st order in
2nd order in

Klein-Gordon eqn:

2nd order throughout

Dirac looked for an alternative which was 1st order throughout:

(D1)
where

is the Hamiltonian operator and, as usual,

Writing (D1) in full:

squaring this equation gives

Which can be expanded in gory details as

 For this to be a reasonable formulation of relativistic QM, a free particle

must also obey
, i.e. it must satisfy the Klein-Gordon equation:

Hence for the Dirac Equation to be consistent with the KG equation require:

(D2)
(D3)
(D4)
Immediately we see that the
and
cannot be numbers. Require 4
mutually anti-commuting matrices
Must be (at least) 4x4 matrices (see Appendix I)

Consequently the wave-function must be a four-component Dirac Spinor

A consequence of introducing an equation
that is 1st order in time/space derivatives is that
the wave-function has new degrees of freedom !
For the Hamiltonian
requires

to be Hermitian

(D5)
i.e. the require four anti-commuting Hermitian 4x4 matrices.
At this point it is convenient to introduce an explicit representation for
It should be noted that physical results do not depend on the particular
representation everything is in the commutation relations.
A convenient choice is based on the Pauli spin matrices:

with
The matrices are Hermitian and anti-commute with each other

Dirac Equation: Probability Density and Current

Now consider probability density/current this is where the perceived
problems with the Klein-Gordon equation arose.
Start with the Dirac equation

(D6)
and its Hermitian conjugate

(D7)
Consider

Now using the identity:

remembering

are Hermitian

(D8)

gives the continuity equation

where
The probability density and current can be identified as:

and
where
Unlike the KG equation, the Dirac equation has probability densities which
are always positive.
In addition, the solutions to the Dirac equation are the four component
Dirac Spinors. A great success of the Dirac equation is that these
components naturally give rise to the property of intrinsic spin.
It can be shown that Dirac spinors represent spin-half particles (appendix II)
with an intrinsic magnetic moment of
(appendix III)

Covariant Notation: the Dirac Matrices

The Dirac equation can be written more elegantly by introducing the
four Dirac gamma matrices:
Premultiply the Dirac equation (D6) by

using

this can be written compactly as:

(D9)
NOTE: it is important to realise that the Dirac gamma matrices are not
four-vectors - they are constant matrices which remain invariant under a
Lorentz transformation. However it can be shown that the Dirac equation
is itself Lorentz covariant (see Appendix IV)

Properties of the matrices

From the properties of the and matrices (D2)-(D4) immediately obtain:

and
The full set of relations is

which can be expressed as:

(defines the algebra)

Are the gamma matrices Hermitian?

is Hermitian so
is Hermitian.
The matrices are also Hermitian, giving
Hence

are anti-Hermitian

Pauli-Dirac Representation
From now on we will use the Pauli-Dirac representation of the gamma matrices:
which when written in full are

Using the gamma matrices

and

can be written as:

where
is the four-vector current.
(The proof that
is indeed a four vector is given in Appendix V.)
In terms of the four-vector current the continuity equation becomes
Finally the expression for the four-vector current
can be simplified by introducing the adjoint spinor

The Adjoint Spinor

The adjoint spinor is defined as

i.e.

In terms the adjoint spinor the four vector current can be written:

We will use this expression in deriving the Feynman rules for the
Lorentz invariant matrix element for the fundamental interactions.
Thats enough notation, start to investigate the free particle solutions
of the Dirac equation...

Dirac Equation: Free Particle at Rest

Look for free particle solutions to the Dirac equation of form:

where
, which is a constant four-component spinor which must satisfy
the Dirac equation
Consider the derivatives of the free particle solution

substituting these into the Dirac equation gives:

which can be written:

(D10)

This is the Dirac equation in momentum note it contains no derivatives.

For a particle at rest

and
eq. (D10)

(D11)
This equation has four orthogonal solutions:

(D11)

E=m

(D11)

still have NEGATIVE ENERGY SOLUTIONS

Including the time dependence from

Two spin states with E>0

E = -m
(Question 6)
gives

Two spin states with E<0

In QM mechanics cant just discard the E<0 solutions as unphysical

as we require a complete set of states - i.e. 4 SOLUTIONS

Dirac Equation: Plane Wave Solutions

Now aim to find general plane wave solutions:
Start from Dirac equation (D10):
and use

Note

Note in the above equation the 4x4 matrix is

written in terms of four 2x2 sub-matrices
Writing the four component
spinor as

Giving two coupled

simultaneous equations
for

(D12)

Expanding

Therefore

(D12)

gives
Solutions can be obtained by making the arbitrary (but simplest) choices for
i.e.

giving

NOTE: For

or

and

where N is the
wave-function
normalisation

these correspond to the E>0 particle at rest solutions

The choice of
is arbitrary, but this isnt an issue since we can express any
other choice as a linear combination. It is analogous to choosing a basis for
spin which could be eigenfunctions of Sx, Sy or Sz

Repeating for

and

gives the solutions

and

The four solutions are:

If any of these solutions is put back into the Dirac equation, as expected, we obtain
which doesnt in itself identify the negative energy solutions.
One rather subtle point: One could ask the question whether we can interpret
all four solutions as positive energy solutions. The answer is no. If we take
all solutions to have the same value of E, i.e. E = +|E|, only two of the solutions
are found to be independent.
There are only four independent solutions when the two are taken to have E<0.
To identify which solutions have E<0 energy refer back to particle at rest (eq. D11 ).
For
:
correspond to the E>0 particle at rest solutions
correspond to the E<0 particle at rest solutions
So

are the +ve energy solutions and

are the -ve energy solutions

Interpretation of ve Energy Solutions

The Dirac equation has negative energy solutions. Unlike the KG equation
these have positive probability densities. But how should ve energy
solutions be interpreted? Why dont all +ve energy electrons fall into
to the lower energy ve energy states?
Dirac Interpretation: the vacuum corresponds to all ve energy states
being full with the Pauli exclusion principle preventing electrons falling into
-ve energy states. Holes in the ve energy states correspond to +ve energy
anti-particles with opposite charge. Provides a picture for pair-production
and annihilation.

..
..
mc2

..
..
mc2

..
..
mc2

-mc2

-mc2

..
..

-mc2

..
..

..
..

Discovery of the Positron

Cosmic ray track in cloud chamber:

C.D.Anderson, Phys Rev 43 (1933) 491

B
e
e

23 MeV

6 mm
Lead
Plate

63 MeV

e+ enters at bottom, slows down in the

lead plate know direction
Curvature in B-field shows that it is a
positive particle
Cant be a proton as would have stopped in the lead

Provided Verification of Predictions of Dirac Equation

Anti-particle solutions exist ! But the picture of the vacuum corresponding to
the state where all ve energy states are occupied is rather unsatisfactory, what
about bosons (no exclusion principle),.

Feynman-Stckelberg Interpretation
There are many problems with the Dirac interpretation of anti-particles
and it is best viewed as of historical interest dont take it too seriously.
Feynman-Stckelberg Interpretation:
Interpret a negative energy solution as a negative energy particle which
propagates backwards in time or equivalently a positive energy anti-particle
which propagates forwards in time

time

e (E<0)
e+
E>0

eE<0

e (E>0)

e+ (E>0)

e (E>0)

NOTE: in the Feynman diagram the arrow on the

anti-particle remains in the backwards in time
direction to label it an anti-particle solution.
At this point it become more convenient to work with anti-particle
wave-functions with
motivated by this interpretation

Anti-Particle Spinors
Want to redefine our ve energy solutions such that:
i.e. the energy of the physical anti-particle.

We can look at this in two ways:

Start from the negative energy solutions

Where E is understood to
be negative
Can simply define anti-particle wave-function by flipping the sign
of
and
following the Feynman-Stckelburg interpretation:

where E is now understood to be positive,

Anti-Particle Spinors

Find negative energy plane wave solutions to the Dirac equation of

where
the form:
Note that although
these are still negative energy solutions
in the sense that
Solving the Dirac equation

(D13)
The Dirac equation in terms of momentum for ANTI-PARTICLES
Proceeding as before:

etc.,

The same wave-functions that were written down on the previous page.

(c.f. D10)

Particle and anti-particle Spinors

Four solutions of form:

Four solutions of form

Since we have a four component spinor, only four are linearly independent
Could choose to work with
or
or
Natural to use choose +ve energy solutions

Wave-Function Normalisation
From handout 1 want to normalise wave-functions
to
particles per unit volume
Consider
Probability density

which for the desired 2E particles per unit volume, requires that

Obtain same value of N for

Charge Conjugation
In the part II Relativity and Electrodynamics course it was shown that
the motion of a charged particle in an electromagnetic field
can be obtained by making the minimal substitution
with
this can be written
and the Dirac equation becomes:

Taking the complex conjugate and pre-multiplying by

But

and

(D14)
Define the charge conjugation operator:

D14 becomes:
Comparing to the original equation
we see that the spinor
describes a particle of the same mass but with
opposite charge, i.e. an anti-particle !

particle spinor anti-particle spinor

Now consider the action of

on the free particle wave-function:

hence
similarly
Under the charge conjugation operator the particle spinors
transform to the anti-particle spinors
and

and

Using the anti-particle solutions

There is a subtle but important point about the anti-particle solutions written as
Applying normal QM operators for momentum and energy
and

gives

But have defined solutions to have E>0

Hence the quantum mechanical operators giving the physical energy and
momenta of the anti-particle solutions are:
and
Under the transformation

Conservation of total angular momentum

The physical spin of the anti-particle solutions is given by

0
In the hole picture:

A spin-up hole leaves the

negative energy sea in a spin
down state

-mc2

Summary of Solutions to the Dirac Equation

The normalised free PARTICLE solutions to the Dirac equation:

satisfy
with

The ANTI-PARTICLE solutions in terms of the physical energy and momentum:

satisfy
with

For these states the spin is given by

For both particle and anti-particle solutions:
(Now try question 7 mainly about 4 vector current )

Spin States
In general the spinors

are not Eigenstates of

(Appendix II)

However particles/anti-particles travelling in the z-direction:

are Eigenstates of
Note the change of sign
of when dealing with
antiparticle spinors

z
Spinors

are only eigenstates of

z
for

Pause for Breath

Have found solutions to the Dirac equation which are also eigenstates
only for particles travelling along the z axis.

but

Not a particularly useful basis

More generally, want to label our states in terms of good quantum numbers,
i.e. a set of commuting observables.
Cant use z component of spin:

(Appendix II)

Introduce a new concept HELICITY

Helicity plays an important role in much that follows

Helicity
The component of a particles spin along its direction of flight is a good quantum
number:
Define the component of a particles spin along its direction of flight as HELICITY:

If we make a measurement of the component of spin of a spin-half particle

along any axis it can take two values
, consequently the eigenvalues
of the helicity operator for a spin-half particle are:

Often termed:

right-handed

left-handed

NOTE: these are RIGHT-HANDED and LEFT-HANDED HELICITY eigenstates

In handout 4 we will discuss RH and LH CHIRAL eigenstates. Only in the limit
are the HELICITY eigenstates the same as the CHIRAL eigenstates

Helicity Eigenstates
Wish to find solutions of Dirac equation which are also eigenstates of Helicity:
where
and
are right and left handed helicity states and here
the unit vector in the direction of the particle.
The eigenvalue equation:

gives the coupled equations:

Consider a particle propagating in

is

(D15)
direction

Writing either

or

then (D15) gives the relation

(For helicity

So for the components of BOTH

and

For the right-handed helicity state, i.e. helicity +1:

Putting in the constants of proportionality gives:

From the Dirac Equation (D12) we also have

(D16)
Helicity

(D15) determines the relative normalisation of

and

, i.e. here

The negative helicity particle state is obtained in the same way.

The anti-particle states can also be obtained in the same manner although
it must be remembered that
i.e.

 The particle and anti-particle helicity eigenstates states are:

particles

For all four states, normalising to

anti-particles

2E particles/Volume again gives

The helicity eigenstates will be used extensively in the calculations that follow.

Intrinsic Parity of Dirac Particles

non-examinable

Before leaving the Dirac equation, consider parity

The parity operation is defined as spatial inversion through the origin:
Consider a Dirac spinor,

, which satisfies the Dirac equation

(D17)
Under the parity transformation:
Try
so

(D17)
Expressing derivatives in terms of the primed system:

Since

anti-commutes with

Pre-multiplying by
Which is the Dirac equation in the new coordinates.
There for under parity transformations the form of the Dirac equation is
unchanged provided Dirac spinors transform as

(note the above algebra doesnt depend on the choice of

)
For a particle/anti-particle at rest the solutions to the Dirac Equation are:

with

etc.
Hence an anti-particle at rest has opposite intrinsic parity to a particle at rest.
Convention: particles are chosen to have +ve parity; corresponds to choosing

Summary
The formulation of relativistic quantum mechanics starting from the
linear Dirac equation
New degrees of freedom : found to describe Spin particles
In terms of 4x4 gamma matrices the Dirac Equation can be written:

Introduces the 4-vector current and adjoint spinor:

With the Dirac equation: forced to have two positive energy and two
negative energy solutions
Feynman-Stckelberg interpretation: -ve energy particle solutions
propagating backwards in time correspond to physical +ve energy
anti-particles propagating forwards in time

 Most useful basis: particle and anti-particle helicity eigenstates

In terms of 4-component spinors, the charge conjugation and parity

operations are:

Now have all we need to know about a relativistic description of

particles next discuss particle interactions and QED.

Appendix I : Dimensions of the Dirac Matrices

non-examinable

Starting from
For
to be Hermitian for all
To recover the KG equation:

requires

Consider
with

Therefore
(using commutation relation)

similarly

We can now show that the matrices are of even dimension by considering
the eigenvalue equation, e.g.
Eigenvalues of a Hermitian matrix are real so
but
Since the
are trace zero Hermitian matrices with eigenvalues of
they must be of even dimension
For N=2 the 3 Pauli spin matrices satisfy
But we require 4 anti-commuting matrices. Consequently the
of the
Dirac equation must be of dimension 4, 6, 8,.. The simplest choice for
is to assume that the
are of dimension 4.

Appendix II : Spin
non-examinable
For a Dirac spinor is orbital angular momentum a good quantum number?
i.e. does
commute with the Hamiltonian?

Consider the x component of L:

The only non-zero contributions come from:

Therefore

(A.1)

Hence the angular momentum does not commute with the Hamiltonian
and is not a constant of motion

Introduce a new 4x4 operator:

where

are the Pauli spin matrices: i.e.

Now consider the commutator

here
and hence
Consider the

x comp:

Taking each of the commutators in turn:

Hence

Hence the observable corresponding to the operator

is also not
a constant of motion. However, referring back to (A.1)

Therefore:
Because
the commutation relationships for
are the same as for the
. Furthermore both S2 and Sz are diagonal

Consequently
the z direction

, e.g.

and for a particle travelling along

S has all the properties of spin in quantum mechanics and therefore the
Dirac equation provides a natural account of the intrinsic angular
momentum of fermions

Appendix III : Magnetic Moment

non-examinable
In the part II Relativity and Electrodynamics course it was shown that
the motion of a charged particle in an electromagnetic field
can be obtained by making the minimal substitution
Applying this to equations (D12)
(A.2)
Multiplying (A.2) by
(A.3)
where kinetic energy
In the non-relativistic limit

(A.3) becomes

(A.4)

Now
which leads to
and
The operator on the LHS of (A.4):

Substituting back into (A.4) gives the Schrdinger-Pauli equation for

the motion of a non-relativisitic spin particle in an EM field

Since the energy of a magnetic moment in a field

is
we can
identify the intrinsic magnetic moment of a spin particle to be:

In terms of the spin:

Classically, for a charged particle current loop

The intrinsic magnetic moment of a spin half Dirac particle is twice

that expected from classical physics. This is often expressed in terms
of the gyromagnetic ratio is g=2.

Appendix IV : Covariance of Dirac Equation

non-examinable
For a Lorentz transformation we wish to demonstrate that the Dirac
Equation is covariant i.e.
(A.5)
transforms to

(A.6)

where
and

is the transformed spinor.

The covariance of the Dirac equation will be established if the 4x4 matrix
S exists.
Consider a Lorentz transformation with the primed frame moving with
velocity v along the x axis
where

With this transformation equation (A.6)

which should be compared to the matrix S multiplying (A.5)

Therefore the covariance of the Dirac equation will be demonstrated if
we can find a matrix S such that

(A.7)
Considering each value of
where
and

It is easy (although tedious) to demonstrate that the matrix:

with
satisfies the above simultaneous equations
NOTE: For a transformation along in the x direction
To summarise, under a Lorentz transformation a spinor
transforms
to
. This transformation preserves the mathematical
form of the Dirac equation

Appendix V : Transformation of Dirac Current

non-examinable
The Dirac current
plays an important rle in the description
of particle interactions. Here we consider its transformation properties.
Under a Lorentz transformation we have
and for the adjoint spinor:
First consider the transformation properties of
where
giving

hence
The product
product

is therefore a Lorentz invariant. More generally, the

is Lorentz covariant

Now consider
To evaluate this wish to express
(A.7)

in terms of

where we used
Rearranging the labels and reordering gives:

Hence the Dirac current,

, transforms as a four-vector