Solving the gauged Dirac equation perturbatively

Thoros
Messages
23
Reaction score
1

Homework Statement



Given the gauge invariant Dirac equation(i\hbar \gamma^\mu D_{\mu} - mc)\psi(x, A) = 0Show that the following holds: \psi(x, A - \frac{\hbar}{e} \partial\alpha) = e^{i\alpha}\psi(x, A)

Homework Equations



The covariant derivative is D_\mu = \partial_{\mu} + i\frac{e}{\hbar} A And the Dirac equation expanded gives (i\hbar \gamma^\mu \partial_{\mu} - mc)\psi(x, A) = e\gamma^\mu A_{\mu}(x)\psi(x, A)
The free field Feynman propagator S_{F}(x-x') satisfies (i\hbar \gamma^\mu \partial_{\mu} - mc)S_{F}(x-x') = i\hbar\delta^{(4)}(x - x')

The Attempt at a Solution



So i separate the hamiltonian density of the system into the unperturbed and the interaction terms \mathcal{H} = \mathcal{H}_{0} + \mathcal{H}_{interaction}
giving \mathcal{H}_{0} = c\overline{\psi}(-i\hbar \gamma^\mu \partial_{\mu} + mc)\psi
and \mathcal{H}_{int} = e\overline{\psi}(\gamma^\mu A_{\mu})\psi

All i can quess now is that the interaction term should give a contribution to a perturbative series, but i fail to see and accomplish this. Also, where does the free field Feynman propagator come into play?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Are you sure the question involves perturbation theory? :confused:

Surely all you have to do is show that the wavefunction
e^{i\alpha}\psi
satisfies the Dirac equation with the replacement
A_{\mu} → A_{\mu} - \frac{\hbar}{e} \partial_{\mu}\alpha.
That's the "gauge symmetry" of the equation - a gauge transformation on the vector potential induces a change of phase in ψ.
 
Oxvillian said:
Are you sure the question involves perturbation theory? :confused:

Good point, i think the word "iteratively" was used by my professor. But i discussed it with others and they were also confused about the perturbative/iterative part. As of now, i still have no real progress.

Edit:
I must thank you for brining this up. I ignored that part of the question and showed it by just applying the U(1) symmetry to the equation with the covariant derivative. However, i ended up with an opposite sign. I'm just going to take it as a sign mistake for now.
 
Last edited:
To solve this, I first used the units to work out that a= m* a/m, i.e. t=z/λ. This would allow you to determine the time duration within an interval section by section and then add this to the previous ones to obtain the age of the respective layer. However, this would require a constant thickness per year for each interval. However, since this is most likely not the case, my next consideration was that the age must be the integral of a 1/λ(z) function, which I cannot model.
Back
Top