Relativistic Quantum

Mechanics
 MSc(Physics) Semester 3
Advanced Quantum Mechanics
Unit III
System of identical particles (10 hours)
Identical particles-Pauli’s exclusion principle-inclusion of spin-spin function for
a two electron system-Helium atom-central field approximation-Thomas Fermi
model of an atom-Hartree and Hartree-Fock equations.
Relativistic quantum mechanics (16 hours)
Klein-Gordon equations and its relevance-particle in a Coulomb’s field-Dirac’s
relativistic theory-Dirac’s equation for a free particle-Dirac matrices-covariant
form of Dirac’s equations-probability density-plane wave solutions-negative
energy starts-spin in Dirac’s theory-magnetic moment of an electron-relativistic
corrections of Hydrogen atom spectrum-spin orbit correction-Lamb shift
Quantum Field Theory (Elementary Ideas only)-4h
WKB method (6 hours)
Connection formula –barrier potential-penetration-alpha particle emission-bound
states in a potential well
 Book for study

• G. Aruldhas, Quantum Mechanics, Second Edition, PHI learning

Pvt. Ltd ( 2009)
• S. Devanarayanan, Quantum Mechanics, Sci Tech Publications (India) Pvt. Ltd
(2005)
• D. J. Griffiths, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, Second Edition, Pearson
Education Inc (2005)
• P.M. Mathews and [Link], A Text Book of Quantum Mechanics, Tata
McGraw Hill (2010 )
• A. Ghatak and [Link], Quantum Mechanics Theory and Applications,
Kluwer Academic Publishers (2004).
• V. K. Thankappan, Quantum Mechanics, Second Edition, New Age International
Pvt Ltd (2003)
• J. J. Sakurai, Advanced Quantum Mechanics, Pearson Education Inc. (2009)
• L.H. Ryder, Quantum Field Theory Second Edition, Cambridge University Press
(1996)
• Steven Weinberg, Quantum Theory of Fields (in Three Volumes), Cambridge
University Press (2002)
 Quantum Mechanics
• Quantum mechanics  arose from theories to explain
observations which could not be resolved with classical
physics,
• Max Planck's solution in 1900 to the black-body
radiation problem,
• Albert Einstein's 1905 paper-correspondence between energy
and frequency in  which explained the photoelectric effect. 
• Early quantum theory was deeply re-conceived in the mid-
1920s by Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, Max
Born and others.
• The modern theory is formulated in various specially
developed mathematical formalisms.
• Wave function, provides information about the probability
amplitude of position, momentum, and other physical
properties of a particle.
 The Architects of Quantum Mechanics
The foundations of quantum mechanics were established during the first half of the 20th century by 
 
 
 
 

Max Planck,  Max Born, 

Niels Bohr,  John von Neumann,
Werner Heisenberg,  Paul Dirac,
Louis de Broglie,  Enrico Fermi,
Arthur Compton,  Wolfgang Pauli, 
Albert Einstein,  Max von Laue, 
Erwin Schrödinger,  Freeman Dyson,
David Hilbert,  Wilhelm Wien, 
Satyendra Nath Bose,  Arnold Sommerfeld,
 Schrödinger's scientific work

•Erwin Schrödinger born in Vienna in 1887.

•First Director of the School of Theoretical
Physics of the Dublin Institute for Advanced
Studies
•His father Rudolf a botanist worked on plant
genetics.
•At the Institute, Schrödinger gave lectures on
the subject "What is Life", (molecular basis
for life).
•Speech -influenced Francis Crick and James
Watson led to the discovery of the structure
•Schrödinger studied in Vienna under
Boltzmann's students Fritz and Franz .
•Wrote papers on magnetism, dielectrics,
radioactivity, Brownian motion and X-ray
diffraction (1910).
•In 1921 he accepted the chair in Zürich,
previously been held by Einstein and Von
Laue.
•Here his scientific work flourished.
•He published papers on general relativity,
probability theory and colour vision
•His first attempt on relativistically invariant
equations, lead to contradictions.
•His famous non- relativistic equation did not
have these problems.
•In 1927 the 5th Solvay conference was held -
Main architects of quantum mechanics were
present.
•Schrödinger presented about his new wave
mechanics- his first attempt of a relativistic
equation, now called the Klein-Gordon
equation, and the difficulties with it.
5th Solvey Conference-1927

1927 Fifth Solvay International Conference on Electrons and Photons, where the
world's most notable physicists met to discuss the newly formulated quantum theory.
The leading figures were Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr.
 Einstein Vs Bohr

In the 5th Solvay conference

Einstein, disenchanted with
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle,
remarked "God does not play dice".
Bohr replied, "Einstein, stop telling
God what to do".
•In 1927 he was offered the chair in Berlin,
previously held by Planck.
•Here he enjoyed the motivation from Einstein,
Planck and Von Laue.
•In 1928 Dirac formulated his new relativistic
equation for the electron, which was
immediately recognized as a major step
forward.
•Einstein, began to question the probabilistic
interpretation of the wave equation as put
forward by Born soon after Schrödinger
proposed his equation.
•Einstein’s opposed strongly this
interpretation at the sixth Solvay conference
in 1930.
•Heated exchange took place between
Einstein and Bohr about a particular
thought experiment proposed by Einstein
where he claimed that the energy and time
of escape of a photon from a box could be
6th Solvay conference
• Einstein, the founder of Relativity, and Bohr, the principal
founder of Quantum mechanics, had had a long debate on
the foundation of quantum mechanics until their death.
• Relativity requires that no signal can travel faster than light
thus causality should be always obeyed.(causality means that an
effect cannot occur from a cause that is not in the back (past) light
cone of that event)

• While in Quantum mechanics causality can be violated

through collapse of the de Broglie wave caused by
measurements and thus events can only be predicted with
probabilities.
• This fundamental inconsistency between Relativity and
Quantum mechanics, which continues to be the biggest
mystery in theoretical physics today, was the cause for the
debate between Einstein and Bohr.
Debate between Einstein and Bohr
•Bohr counter his argument using the time-delay
of a clock in a gravitational field discovered by
Einstein himself as a result of his general theory
of relativity.

•Since then Einstein shifted his position,

surrendering that the accepted interpretation of
quantum mechanics is consistent, but arguing
rather that it is incomplete

•Schrödinger was encouraged by Einstein's

opposition .
•From 1931 the political situation in
Germany became unstable.

•Einstein moved to Institute for

Advanced Study in Princeton
(USA) in 1932.
• In 1933 Hitler came to power in Germany.
• Schrödinger ( not a Jewish) was not in
immediate danger, but he was principally
opposed to the rule and decided to leave
Germany himself.
• He accepted a position in Oxford as Fellow
of Magdalen College.

• Schrödinger was informed that he had been

awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics
together with Dirac.
• In 1935 the well-known article by Einstein,
Podolski and Rosen appeared, criticizing the
foundations of quantum mechanics on the
grounds of its non-locality.(quantum
nonlocality is a characteristic of some measurements
made at a microscopic level that contradict the
assumptions of local realism found in classical
mechanics)

• This prompted Schrödinger to write an

extensive review of the current status of
quantum mechanics, and the measurement
process in particular.
•In 1936 Schrödinger was offered a
Professorship in Graz.

•Schrödinger's work between 1942 and

1952 concentrated mainly on unified
field theory, in a curious parallel with
Einstein
• He wrote a series of articles on field
equations, field laws' in 1946.
• Schrödinger himself was very enthusiastic
about this work and communicated regularly
with Einstein about it.
• Eventually, both Einstein and Schrödinger
had to be disappointed.
• However, as the progress of field theory took
a different course with the development of
renormalization theory by Feynman,
Schwinger and Tomonaga .
•In 1956, Schrödinger returned to
Austria after he became ill with
bronchitis and asthma.

•Schrödinger died in January 1961

Galilean Transformation

• The Galilean
• The primed frame moves with velocity transformation is the
v in the x direction with respect to the common
fixed reference frame. sense relationship
• The reference frames coincide at t=t'=0. which agrees with
• The point x' is moving with the primed our
frame. everyday experience.
• The Galilean transformation gives the • It has embedded
coordinates of the point as measured within
from the fixed frame in terms of its it the presumption
Lorentz Transformation

The primed frame moves with

velocity v in the x direction with
respect to the fixed reference
frame. The reference frames
coincide at t=t'=0. The point x' is
moving with the primed frame.
The reverse transformation is
Minkowski Space
In special relativity, the Minkowski spacetime is a
four-dimensional manifold, created by
Hermann Minkowski. It has four dimensions: three
dimensions of space (x, y, z) and one dimension of
time.
 Relativistic Wave equations

• Early in 1920 Theory of Relativity and

Quantum mechanics were developed as two
independent theories.
• Continuous effort have been made to
reconcile these two theories
• QM does not satisfy the requirement of STR
namely invariance under Lorentz
transformation, as it is based on Non-
relativistic Hamiltonian
• In STR space-time symmetry is required
•But wave equations for physical
problems in QM are 1st order in time
and 2nd order in space.
•Hence in QM, space-time symmetry
is not there.
•In order to obtain relativistic wave
equations Schrödinger in 1926
suggested using relativistic
Hamiltonian for a free particle in place
of non- relativistic one
•Subsequently Klein and Gordon
studied its implications.
•Klein-Gordon equation was thus
developed.
•But it does not say any thing about
the spin of the particles , rather used
to describe spin zero particle such as
π-mesons and k-mesons
•These discrepancies were solved by
Dirac with Dirac equations.
•Dirac developed 1st order equations
both in space and time.
•Concept of spin is evolved in Dirac’s
theory and is applicable to spin(1/2)
systems.
 Klein Gordon Equations
Derived on the basis of 4-
dimensional (Minkowski space)
formalism of relativistic mechanics