Fourier Transform of Photon Emission Hamiltonian

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Discussion Overview

The thread discusses the Fourier Transform of the Hamiltonian related to photon emission, specifically examining the expression for the Hamiltonian and the implications of transforming it to the momentum basis. The discussion includes technical reasoning and mathematical steps involved in the transformation process.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant presents a Hamiltonian expression and describes the process of transforming it to the momentum basis, suggesting that the result simplifies to a form involving a Dirac delta function.
  • Another participant questions the treatment of the term ##A(x)## during the integral, implying that it has not been adequately addressed in the transformation process.
  • A subsequent reply echoes the concern about the treatment of ##A(x)## and suggests that a missing factor related to the delta function may need to be included.
  • Another participant emphasizes the need to clarify the roles of the photon creation and annihilation operators, as well as the vector nature of the resulting expression for ##H(k)##.
  • One participant criticizes the lack of detailed steps in the reasoning and suggests that more rigorous physics is needed to support the claims made.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the adequacy of the initial transformation process and the completeness of the mathematical treatment, indicating that there is no consensus on the correctness of the approach or the resulting expressions.

Contextual Notes

There are unresolved questions regarding the treatment of the terms in the Hamiltonian and the implications of the Fourier Transform, particularly concerning the inclusion of specific factors and the vector nature of the quantities involved.

thatboi
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Hey all,
I just wanted to double check my logic behind getting the Fourier Transform of the following Hamiltonian:
$$H(x) = \frac{ie\hbar}{mc}A(x)\cdot\nabla_{x}$$
where $$A(x) = \sqrt{\frac{2\pi\hbar c^2}{\omega L^3}}\left(a_{p}\epsilon_{p} e^{i(p\cdot x)} + a_{p}^{\dagger}\epsilon_{p} e^{-i(p\cdot x)}\right)$$
and ##\epsilon_{p}## is the polarization vector and ##a_{p},a_{p}^{\dagger}## are the photon creation/annihilation operators for a photon with momentum ##p##. Also, we can treat the ##p## and ##x## as 4-vectors. To transform ##H(x)## to the momentum basis, I insert an integral of ##d^{4}x## and multiply by ##e^{ik\cdot x}##. Doing this leaves me with $$H(k) \propto \delta(p-k)k$$ since the ##\nabla_{x}## drags down a factor of ##k## and the Fourier Transform of an exponential function is just a Dirac delta. This result seems too simple to me so I was wondering if I made a mistake somewhere.
Thanks.
 
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What happens to ##A(x)## when you do the integral? It seems like you're just leaving it out.
 
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PeterDonis said:
What happens to ##A(x)## when you do the integral? It seems like you're just leaving it out.
I thought the ##\delta(p-k)## factor came from the ##e^{(ip\cdot x)}## term in ##A(x)##, in which case I also forgot a ##\delta(p+k)*k## factor in my above response.
 
Let me try to say what @PeterDonis said but slightly more direct. Where are ##a_p## and ##\epsilon_p##? Also, the expression you give for ##H(k)## is proportional to ##k##, and ##k## is generally a vector. Your sanity check alarms should be going off.
 
Perhaps you should fill in the steps (using, say, mathematics

thatboi said:
A(x)=2πℏc2ωL3(apϵpei(p⋅x)+ap†ϵpe−i(p⋅x))
and ϵp is the polarization vector and ap,ap† are the photon creation/annihilation operators for a photon with momentum p. Also, we can treat the p and x as 4-vectors. To transform H(x) to the momentum basis, I insert an integral of d4x and multiply by eik⋅x. Doing this leaves me with

Hand waving is not enough. It is good that your radar went off. It is bad that you didn't do the physics.
 

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