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View Full Version : Uhm..what is a constant with a verticle slash though it? heh


QuantumTheory
Oct24-04, 04:10 AM
Alright, this equation is just BIZARRE and amazes me yet makes me feel incredibly stupid at once.


{\cal L}_R = \sum_{i=1}^G \bar{E}^i_R(i\kern+0.1em /\kern-0.55em \partial - g_1Y_E \kern+0.1em /\kern-0.65em B)E^i_R + \bar{D}^i_R(i\kern+0.1em /\kern-0.65em D - g_1Y_D \kern+0.1em /\kern-0.65em B)D^i_R + \bar{U}^i_R(i\kern+0.15em /\kern-0.65em D - g_1Y_U \kern+0.1em /\kern-0.65em B)U^i_R


......


Anyone feel like explaning what it means? Is it a REAL EQUATION or just random stuff put together?
?

Galileo
Oct24-04, 04:30 AM
Where'd you get that?

It may mean something if we knew what those slashed-through symbols mean.
The expressions in parentheses could be operators, since it's sandwiched between something and (possibly) it's complex conjugate.

Slashing through symbols is an unusual practice though, so my guess is that it's bogus.

selfAdjoint
Oct24-04, 07:47 AM
Dirac often used the "inner product" of a spacetime vector with his four 4X4 complex matrices (presented as (\gamma_0, \gamma_1, \gamma_2\, \gamma_3)). As shorthand, he wrote the symbol for this as the letter for the spacetime vector with a slash throught it. Of course in each "inner product" term, the matrix is really acting on the vector.