Is There an Error in the Third Dirac Current Equation?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the formulation of the third Dirac current equation and its implications, particularly focusing on the mathematical representation and the use of adjoints versus transposes in the context of Dirac currents. Participants explore the integration of these equations and the challenges faced in achieving consistent results.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses confusion regarding the third Dirac current equation, questioning whether a typo exists in their calculations, as the integral does not seem to equal one.
  • Another participant suggests that the transpose used in the equation should actually be an adjoint, which is the conjugate transpose.
  • A participant discusses issues related to curve fitting on the wave functions (ψ's) and notes that using the adjoint leads to all terms being positive, making it impossible for all four Dirac equations to integrate to one simultaneously.
  • Further clarification is provided by the same participant, who mentions that the first Dirac equation should also be expressed with the adjoint, and they have observed that the real part of the first Dirac equation is consistently larger than the others in their simulations.
  • The participant questions the necessity of using the adjoint in Dirac currents and notes a lack of clear explanations for this requirement in the literature.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on whether the use of the adjoint is necessary for the Dirac currents, and there are competing views regarding the mathematical formulation and implications of the equations.

Contextual Notes

There are unresolved questions regarding the definitions and roles of adjoints versus transposes in the context of Dirac currents, as well as the implications of these choices on the integration of the equations.

woodland
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I'm having a problem writing the third Dirac current eq.
$$1 = \int ψ^t \gamma^0 \gamma^2 ψ$$
which should come out as
$$1 = \int i ψ^0 ψ^3 - i ψ^1 ψ^2 + i ψ^2 ψ^1 - i ψ^3 ψ^0$$
By inspection the first and last terms add to zero and the second and third terms add to zero, so the integral cannot equal one. I checked my matrix math, calculated new gammas but nothing works. Am I making a typo error somewhere or what? Thanks
 
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Shouldn't the transpose actually be an adjoint?
 
Thanks. I checked on the adjoint point. Adjoint means the conjugate transpose. I'm trying to use some curve fitting on the ψ's and this leads to problems. Such as the four terms in $$ψ^t γ^0 γ^0 ψ$$ would all ways be positive and this would make the first Dirac current always larger than the other three. I simulated this for 10000 tries and it was true every time. As such all four equations cannot be integrated to 1 simultaneously. This is if the adjoint is used. So checking around I cannot find anywhere that using it must be the case. It's just used. I remember my first college physics classes. A lot of the other students (myself included I suppose) had teachers who used conjugation just to get real answers rather than use another class time to explain what happens to the imaginary part. So I have to ask if the Dirac currents should be the adjoint where is the explanation for this need?
 
Sorry my last entry should have had the first Dirac eq as the adjoint $$ψ^* γ^0 γ^0 ψ $$
I redid the idea of is real(Dirac eq #1) <> real(Dirac eq 1 to 4) a million times with random choices for the complex (about 1 to 0) $$ψ^μ$$ and the real part of the first Dirac eq is always larger than the real part of any of the other three. I cannot see how the integral for all four can be made 1. Remember all four ψ's occur in any current so any choice of a coefficient of one applies to all. That's why I was researching the Dirac current not being needed to be adjoint. To be fair this needs to be continued on another thread. I'll check back though, maybe someone might have some ideas.
 

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