Electromagnetic field quantization

In summary, the conversation is discussing a proof involving integration and the manipulation of indices. The first part of the conversation is about showing a proof involving the integral of a four-dimensional space and a function involving the electromagnetic field. The second part of the conversation involves a question about moving factors of A and the presence of an overall minus sign. The third part of the conversation discusses a technique for integrating by parts and a mistake made in the proof. In the end, the summary highlights the topic of the conversation and the main points discussed.
  • #36
I see what I did was wrong, and I can see that I have made the mistake several times. I guess I just don't spot it, but I am not at all confident with this...I had another go in the penultimate post, but I don't think the way I've permuted indices is correct..
 
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  • #37
smallgirl said:
[tex] \frac{1}{2}\int\partial^{4}xA_{\nu}(\partial_{\mu}\partial^{\mu}A^{\nu}-\partial_{\mu}\partial^{\nu}A^{\mu})[/tex]
[tex] \frac{1}{2}\int\partial^{4}xA_{\nu}(\square n_{\mu\nu}-\partial_{\mu}\partial^{\nu})A^{\mu}
[/tex]
That's pretty close. Start with the first integral and do it one step at a time.
  1. First, replace ##\partial_\mu\partial^\mu## with ##\Box##.
  2. Then raise the index on ##A_\nu##. When you do that, you have to lower ##\nu## on the other terms.
  3. Next, replace ##A_\nu## (it should only appear once at this point) with ##A_\nu = \eta_{\mu\nu} A^\mu##.
  4. Now you should have ##A^\mu## on the right on both terms, so you can pull it out to the right.
At this point, you should have
$$\frac{1}{2}\int d^4x\,A^\nu(\Box \eta_{\mu\nu}-\partial_\mu\partial_\nu) A^\mu$$ Now if you want to, you can relabel ##\mu \leftrightarrow \nu## so that it'll match up exactly with the expression from the homework assignment.
 

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