Question about notation in the Feynman Lectures on Physics III 3-1

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
2 replies · 2K views
anuttarasammyak
Gold Member
Messages
3,160
Reaction score
1,592
TL;DR
Feynman Lectures on Physics III 3-1 notation of probability amplitude <x|s> meets Dirac's notation of bra ket inner product ?
I have a question on formula (3.1) and (3.2) in Feynman Lectures on Physics III 3-1, available online,
https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/III_03.html

<x|s> here can be interpreted also as inner product of bra <x| and ket |s>, following usual Dirac notation ?

For example, ##<r_1|r_2>## in formula (3.7), if we take it as inner product, it should be zero because bra and ket are position eigenvecors of different eigenvalues. Feynman treats it as a kind of Green function. Is Green function noted in the form of < | > as a usual way?

I do not find this notation of probability amplitude in other textbooks. Your teaching will be highly appreciated.
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
anuttarasammyak said:
Summary:: Feynman Lectures on Physics III 3-1 notation of probability amplitude <x|s> meets Dirac's notation of bra ket inner product ?

I have a question on formula (3.1) and (3.2) in Feynman Lectures on Physics III 3-1, available online,
https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/III_03.html

<x|s> here can be interpreted also as inner product of bra <x| and ket |s>, following usual Dirac notation ?

Yes. Feynman's notation is the same the the usual Dirac braket inner product.

anuttarasammyak said:
For example, ##<r_1|r_2>## in formula (3.7), if we take it as inner product, it should be zero because bra and ket are position eigenvecors of different eigenvalues. Feynman treats it as a kind of Green function. Is Green function noted in the form of < | > as a usual way?

The inner product ##<r_2|r_1>## is not zero, because if you read Feynman's text he means ##<r_2|\text{the state at the time of measurement that evolved from a state localized at $r_1$ at an earlier time}>##
 
Last edited:
I have got it. For clarification of time difference or evolution I add suffix of time explicitly to <r2|r1>, i.e.
[tex]< \mathbf{r_2}_{\ t}|\mathbf{r_1}_{\ t0}>[/tex]
where ## t>t_0 ##.

In later lines I found he mentions clearly
[tex]<r,t=t_1|{P,t=0}>[/tex]

Thank you so much.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: atyy