Relativistic Quantum Mechanics

Click For Summary
The discussion centers on Paul Strange's textbook "Relativistic Quantum Mechanics," particularly chapter 7, which provides a detailed examination of Zitterbewegung using the Foldy-Wouthuysen representation. The Zitterbewegung effect is highlighted for its role in justifying the eigenvalues of the velocity operator and offering insights into spin in relativistic quantum mechanics. The text references additional works by Costella and McKellar for broader conclusions on the topic. Comparisons are made to alternative approaches to spinors, emphasizing the orthodox use of the F-W transformation to analyze Zitterbewegung. The conversation also touches on related concepts like the emergence of Compton length from gravity and Planck length.
arivero
Gold Member
Messages
3,481
Reaction score
187
This weekend I have been reading the textbook of Paul Strange, "Relativistic Quantum Mechanics". There, in chapter 7, in takes the most extensive description of Zitterbewegung I am aware of, at least in a textbook. Most of the discussion uses the Foldy-Wouthuysen representation, while it refers to Costella and McKellar 1995 for general conclusions on it. I have not read this yet, but preprints are available online as usual (hep-ph/9503416,
also hep-ph/9704210 and hep-ph/0102244)

For newcomers, let me to remark that the Z. effect can be used to justify the eigenvalues of the velocity operator in relativistic QM, and also it gives a partial justification of spin.
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
Zitterbewegung

How does it compare and contrast wit http://modelingnts.la.asu.edu/html/Impl_QM.html ?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Lets say that it is "orthodox". IE instead of alternative approaches to spinors, it uses the F-W transformation, which is standard in relativistic quantum mechanics, to separate the components of the spinor and then to locate the Zitterbewegung effect.
 
crosslink

We got a nice tale about emerging compton length from gravity plus plank length, at the LQG forum zone.

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14007[/URL]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
An antilinear operator ##\hat{A}## can be considered as, ##\hat{A}=\hat{L}\hat{K}##, where ##\hat{L}## is a linear operator and ##\hat{K} c=c^*## (##c## is a complex number). In the Eq. (26) of the text https://bohr.physics.berkeley.edu/classes/221/notes/timerev.pdf the equality ##(\langle \phi |\hat{A})|\psi \rangle=[ \langle \phi|(\hat{A}|\psi \rangle)]^*## is given but I think this equation is not correct within a minus sign. For example, in the Hilbert space of spin up and down, having...

Similar threads

Replies
22
Views
3K
  • · Replies 15 ·
Replies
15
Views
2K
  • · Replies 122 ·
5
Replies
122
Views
10K
  • · Replies 87 ·
3
Replies
87
Views
8K
Replies
8
Views
2K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
3K
  • · Replies 15 ·
Replies
15
Views
4K
  • · Replies 15 ·
Replies
15
Views
4K
  • · Replies 47 ·
2
Replies
47
Views
6K
  • · Replies 376 ·
13
Replies
376
Views
21K