Ladder operators for real scalar field

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
1 reply · 1K views
physichu
Messages
30
Reaction score
1
Puting a minus in front of the momentum in the field expansion gives

##\phi \left( {\bf{x}} \right) = \int {{d^3}\tilde p} \left( {{a_{\bf{p}}}{e^{i{\bf{p}} \cdot {\bf{x}}}} + a_{\bf{p}}^ + {e^{ - i{\bf{p}} \cdot {\bf{x}}}}} \right){\rm{ }}\phi \left( {\bf{x}} \right) = \int {{d^3}\tilde p} \left( {{a_{ - {\bf{p}}}}{e^{ - i{\bf{p}} \cdot {\bf{x}}}} + a_{ - {\bf{p}}}^ + {e^{i{\bf{p}} \cdot {\bf{x}}}}} \right)##.

Is this implise that

##a_{ - {\bf{p}}}^ + = {a_{{\bf{p}}{\rm{ }}}}## ##{a_{ - {\bf{p}}}} = a_{\bf{p}}^ + ## ?

Becuse if so

##\displaylines{
\pi \left( {\bf{x}} \right) = - i\int {{{{d^3}p} \over {{{\left( {2\pi } \right)}^3}}}\sqrt {{{{\omega _{\bf{p}}}} \over 2}} \left( {{a_{\bf{p}}}{e^{i{\bf{p}} \cdot {\bf{x}}}} - a_{\bf{p}}^ + {e^{ - i{\bf{p}} \cdot {\bf{x}}}}} \right)} = \cr
= - i\int {{{{d^3}p} \over {{{\left( {2\pi } \right)}^3}}}\sqrt {{{{\omega _{\bf{p}}}} \over 2}} \left( {{a_{\bf{p}}}{e^{i{\bf{p}} \cdot {\bf{x}}}} - a_{ - {\bf{p}}}^{}{e^{ - i{\bf{p}} \cdot {\bf{x}}}}} \right) = } \cr
= - i\int {{{{d^3}p} \over {{{\left( {2\pi } \right)}^3}}}\sqrt {{{{\omega _{\bf{p}}}} \over 2}} \left( {{a_{\bf{p}}}{e^{i{\bf{p}} \cdot {\bf{x}}}} - a_{\bf{p}}^{}{e^{i{\bf{p}} \cdot {\bf{x}}}}} \right)} = 0 \cr} ##

which is obviosly wrong, Where is the mistake?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
physichu said:
Is this implise that

##a_{ - {\bf{p}}}^ + = {a_{{\bf{p}}{\rm{ }}}}## ##{a_{ - {\bf{p}}}} = a_{\bf{p}}^ + ## ?
No, why should it?
The first term on the left side gets transformed to the first one on the right side, and the second term gets transformed to the second one.
Just a transformation p -> -p, no physics involved in that step. The integral is over the whole space anyway so integration limits don't change.