Solutions of the free one-particle Klein Gordon equation

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on solving the free one-particle Klein-Gordon (KG) equation as presented in "Wachter, relativistic quantum mechanics." The equation is defined as -\hbar^2 \frac{\partial^2 \phi(x)}{\partial t^2} = (-c^2 \hbar^2 \nabla^2 + m^2_0 c^4) \phi(x). The user attempted to solve this using the separation ansatz, yielding four potential solutions. However, they only identified two solutions, \phi^{(1)}_p and \phi^{(2)}_p, while the complete set includes two additional complex conjugate solutions, \phi^{(3)}_p and \phi^{(4)}_p, which were clarified by another forum member.

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silverwhale
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In the book "Wachter, relativistic quantum mechanics", in page 5, the KG eq. is introduced as follows:

[tex]-\hbar^2 \frac{\partial^2 \phi(x)}{\partial t^2} = (-c^2 \hbar^2 \nabla^2 + m^2_0 c^4) \phi(x).[/tex]

Now I tried to solve this equation using the separation ansatz (product ansatz).
I get:

[tex]\phi (ct) = exp [\pm \frac{ i p_0 ct}{\hbar} ],[/tex]
and
[tex]\psi (x) = exp[\pm \frac{i \vec{p} \cdot \vec{x}}{\hbar}].[/tex]
Where the usual relativistic four-momentum conservation equation holds.
Now, this amounts to four combinations of solutions. But in the book, only two are written, namely:

[tex]\phi^{(1)}_p= e^{-i (c p_0 t - \vec{p} \cdot \vec{x})/ \hbar},[/tex]

[tex]\phi^{(2)}_p= e^{+i (c p_0 t - \vec{p} \cdot \vec{x})/ \hbar}.[/tex]

I really, really want to solve the equation; I feel a little bit frustrated because I don't get only the two solutions. Basically I am halfway there but I don't know what to do next.

So any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
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The other two solutions you are missing are the complex conjugates of the ones you have written down. So the full set of solutions is: \phi^{(1)}_p= e^{-i (c p_0 t - \vec{p} \cdot \vec{x})/ \hbar},\phi^{(2)}_p= e^{+i (c p_0 t - \vec{p} \cdot \vec{x})/ \hbar},\phi^{(3)}_p= e^{-i (c p_0 t + \vec{p} \cdot \vec{x})/ \hbar},\phi^{(4)}_p= e^{+i (c p_0 t + \vec{p} \cdot \vec{x})/ \hbar}.
 

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