Deriving expressions for creation/annihilation operator

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around deriving expressions for creation and annihilation operators starting from the classical solution of the Klein-Gordon equation. Participants explore the mathematical transformations and integrals involved in this derivation, focusing on the manipulation of integrals and exponential functions.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • One participant presents the initial expression for the scalar field and seeks help in deriving the operator expressions from it.
  • Another participant provides a hint involving the delta function to assist with the integration process.
  • A different participant suggests renaming the integration variable to avoid confusion and outlines steps to manipulate the integrals involving exponentials.
  • Participants discuss the need to apply identities related to the creation and annihilation operators, particularly concerning the relationship between \(a(-\textbf{k})\) and \(a^*(\textbf{k})\).
  • One participant acknowledges a mistake in their initial post regarding the expression and clarifies the correct form of the equation.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the steps needed to manipulate the integrals, but there is no consensus on the final derivation or the specific identities to apply, leaving some aspects of the discussion unresolved.

Contextual Notes

Participants express uncertainty about the integration process and the application of identities, indicating that some assumptions or mathematical steps may be missing or unclear.

Rizlablack
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hey guys!I really need help in getting from the real classical solution of the Klein Gordon equation to the expression of operators!
I start from:

[itex]\varphi(x) = \int \frac{d^3 k}{(2\pi)^3 2\omega} [a(\textbf{k}) e^{ikx} + a^{*}(\textbf{k}) e^{-ikx}][/itex]

and should arrive with

[itex]\int d^3 x \: e^{-ikx} \varphi(x) = \frac{1}{2\omega} a(\textbf{k}) + \frac{1}{2\omega} e^{2i\omega t}a(\textbf{k})[/itex]

then the rest is easy!just not very good with inverse trasformations! ^_^
thank you all!
 
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This won't get you all the way there, but it may be good to get you started:

[tex]\int d^3\vec x e^{-i (\vec k - \vec k') \cdot \vec x} = (2\pi)^3 \delta_{\vec k \vec k'}[/tex]
 
thank you for your help!but still I don't know how to match that formula with my integral!it's multiplied by phi(x) and integrating by part I don't manage to simplify things!
what about just another little help? ^_^
 
Rizlablack said:
I start from:

[itex]\varphi(x) = \int \frac{d^3 k}{(2\pi)^3 2\omega} [a(\textbf{k}) e^{ikx} + a^{*}(\textbf{k}) e^{-ikx}][/itex]

Sure, here's another hint. Let's start from your original expression, and to prevent confusion, rename the integration variable to k'.
[itex]\varphi(x) = \int \frac{d^3 k'}{(2\pi)^3 2\omega} [a(\textbf{k}') e^{ik'x} + a^{*}(\textbf{k}') e^{-ik'x}][/itex]

Now fix a k, multiply both sides by [itex]e^{-ikx}[/itex] and integrate over x:

[itex]\int e^{-ikx} \varphi(x) \, d^3x = \int d^3x \int \frac{d^3 k'}{(2\pi)^3 2\omega} e^{-ikx} [a(\textbf{k}') e^{ik'x} + a^{*}(\textbf{k}') e^{-ik'x}][/itex]

Now the exponentials are just numbers (note that k and x are vectors, you are basically just writing shorthand for [itex]e^{-ikx} = e^{-i (\textbf{k} \cdot \textbf{x})}[/itex]) so you can commute them around at will.
So you can combine the exponentials and get exponents of the form
[tex]e^{-i(k_1 - k_2)x}[/tex]
and apply the identity I gave earlier.

If you work that out you will get the left hand side and the first part of the right hand side correctly, you'll just need to do some magic with the [itex]a^*(\textbf{k}')[/itex], I don't recall the details but there is probably some identity like
[tex]a(-\textbf{k}) = a^*(\textbf{k})[/tex]
 
THANK YOU!it's so easy now I just forgot to rename variable!
and btw I made a mistake in the first post, it should be
..+ (1/2w) exp(2iwt) a*(-k) so there are no identities at all! ^_^
thanks again!
 

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