Stability and decay of the Dirac vacuum in external gauge fields

We consider various gauge fields coupled to the free Dirac equation according to symmetry principles. The gauge fields are treated as classical, unquantized fields. Sufficiently strong time-independent fields may give rise to spontaneous particle creation and to the decay of the symmetric Dirac vacuum into a new ground state with broken symmetry. The vacuum stability of the Dirac field is studied for the cases of external electromagnetic (U(1)), gravitational (Poincaré group including torsion) and Yang-Mills (SU(2)) potentials.     

Maximal symmetry and mass generation of Dirac fermions and gravitational gauge field theory in six-dimensional spacetime

The relativistic Dirac equation in four-dimensional spacetime reveals a coherent relation between the dimensions of spacetime and the degrees of freedom of fermionic spinors. A massless Dirac fermion generates new symmetries corresponding to chirality spin and charge spin as well as conformal scaling transformations. With the introduction of intrinsic W-parity, a massless Dirac fermion can be treated as a Majorana-type or Weyl-type spinor in a six-dimensional spacetime that reflects the intrinsic quantum numbers of chirality spin. A generalized Dirac equation is obtained in the six-dimensional spacetime with a maximal symmetry. Based on the framework of gravitational quantum field theory proposed in Ref. [1] with the postulate of gauge invariance and coordinate independence, we arrive at a maximally symmetric gravitational gauge field theory for the massless Dirac fermion in six-dimensional spacetime. Such a theory is governed by the local spin gauge symmetry SP(1,5) and the global Poincar′e symmetry P(1,5)= SO(1,5) P~(1,5) as well as the charge spin gauge symmetry SU(2). The theory leads to the prediction of doubly electrically charged bosons. A scalar field and conformal scaling gauge field are introduced to maintain both global and local conformal scaling symmetries. A generalized gravitational Dirac equation for the massless Dirac fermion is derived in the six-dimensional spacetime. The equations of motion for gauge fields are obtained with conserved currents in the presence of gravitational effects. The dynamics of the gauge-type gravifield as a Goldstone-like boson is shown to be governed by a conserved energy-momentum tensor, and its symmetric part provides a generalized Einstein equation of gravity. An alternative geometrical symmetry breaking mechanism for the mass generation of Dirac fermions is demonstrated.     

Invariance operator groups for a charged particle in an external electromagnetic field

In this paper a general group theoretical approach is given for the problem of a charged particle moving in an external electromagnetic field F. From a knowledge of the symmetry transformations of the field (Galilean or Poincaré), it is possible to explicitly construct groups of operators which commute with the operators of the equations of motion (classical, quantum mechanical, Klein-Gordon or Dirac) using the concept of compensating gauge transformations together with a uniquely chosen map π: F → A fixing the gauge of the potential A. Other choices of gauges give rise to isomorphic operator groups. The general structure of the possible symmetry groups of the fields is discussed and the corresponding invariance operator groups are explicitly given for (almost) arbitrary fields. The structure of these groups is then investigated and it is shown in particular that a large class of fields give rise to non-Type I groups, i.e. to groups which have (unitary continuous) representations whose corresponding von Neumann algebras have non-discrete factors. A general criterion for these pathological cases is given. As an application, we study the problem of a Bloch electron in arbitrary constant uniform electric and magnetic fields.     

Fierz bilinear formulation of the Maxwell–Dirac equations and symmetry reductions

We study the Maxwell–Dirac equations in a manifestly gauge invariant presentation using only the spinor bilinear scalar and pseudoscalar densities, and the vector and pseudovector currents, together with their quadratic Fierz relations. The internally produced vector potential is expressed via algebraic manipulation of the Dirac equation, as a rational function of the Fierz bilinears and first derivatives (valid on the support of the scalar density), which allows a gauge invariant vector potential to be defined. This leads to a Fierz bilinear formulation of the Maxwell tensor and of the Maxwell–Dirac equations, without any reference to gauge dependent quantities. We show how demanding invariance of tensor fields under the action of a fixed (but arbitrary) Lie subgroup of the Poincaré group leads to symmetry reduced equations. The procedure is illustrated, and the reduced equations worked out explicitly for standard spherical and cylindrical cases, which are coupled third order nonlinear PDEs. Spherical symmetry necessitates the existence of magnetic monopoles, which do not affect the coupled Maxwell–Dirac system due to magnetic terms cancelling. In this paper we do not take up numerical computations. As a demonstration of the power of our approach, we also work out the symmetry reduced equations for two distinct classes of dimension 4 one-parameter families of Poincaré subgroups, one splitting and one non-splitting. The splitting class yields no solutions, whereas for the non-splitting class we find a family of formal exact solutions in closed form.     

Zero Modes of the Dirac Operator for Regular Einstein–Yang–Mills Background Fields

The existence of normalizable zero modes of the twisted Dirac operator is proven for a class of static Einstein–Yang–Mills background fields with a half-integer Chern–Simons number. The proof holds for any gauge group and applies to Dirac spinors in an arbitrary representation of the gauge group. The class of background fields contains all regular, asymptotically flat, CP-symmetric configurations with a connection that is globally described by a time-independent spatial one-form which vanishes sufficiently fast at infinity. A subset is provided by all neutral, spherically symmetric configurations which satisfy a certain genericity condition, and for which the gauge potential is purely magnetic with real magnetic amplitudes. Received: 19 March 1997 / Accepted: 21 April 1997     

Algebraic properties of the Dirac equation

The first-order symmetry operators of the Dirac equation are classified according to their tensor properties under transformations of the homogeneous Lorentz group; a minimal system of generators for the ring of symmetry operators of the free Dirac equation is obtained, and the physical meaning of the spin operators is considered; fields are found which admit symmetry operators of first order.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 2, pp. 84–89, February, 1972.The author is grateful to V. N. Shapovalov for discussions and valuable suggestions.     

The invariant factor of the chiral determinant

The coupling of spin 0 and spin 1 external fields to Dirac fermions defines a theory which displays gauge chiral symmetry. Quantum-mechanically, functional integration of the fermions yields the determinant of the Dirac operator, known as the chiral determinant. Its modulus is chiral invariant but not so its phase, which carries the chiral anomaly through the Wess–Zumino–Witten term. Here we find the remarkable result that, upon removal from the chiral determinant of this known anomalous part, the remaining chiral-invariant factor is just the square root of the determinant of a local covariant operator of the Klein–Gordon type. This procedure bypasses the integrability obstruction allowing one to write down a functional that correctly reproduces both the modulus and the phase of the chiral determinant. The technique is illustrated by computing the effective action in two dimensions at leading order (LO) in the derivative expansion. The results previously obtained by indirect methods are indeed reproduced.     

Topological anomalies: Explicit examples

We discuss the mathematical picture of anomalies. By solving the Dirac equation in the background of non-trivial families of gauge connections, we show explicitly the interplay between spectral flows, zero modes of the Dirac operator and projective representations of the gauge group, and the existence of both perturbative and non-perturbative anomalies. We give an explicit expression for the fermion determinant for chiral QCD in two dimensions when an anomaly is present.     

Dirac粒子的正-反粒子自由度和正-反粒子量子数

对Dirac粒子引进了正 反粒子自由度和相应的内部τ空间的算子,把γ矩阵分解成自旋σ算子和正 反粒子τ算子;Dirac方程的解出现了正 反粒子量子数;正 反粒子变换是Dirac粒子的哈密顿量的反对称变换,Dirac粒子负能态能量的负值来自正 反粒子量子数的负值;γ矩阵这种分解是处理物理相互作用的需要. he particle-antiparticle degrees of freedom and the corresponding intrinsic space are introduced to study the dynamical symmetry of the Dirac particle. As a result, the particle-antiparticle quantum number appears naturally and the Dirac particle has five quantum numbers instead of four. An anti-symmetry of the Dirac Hamiltonian and a dual symmetry of its eigen functions are explored. The operator of the Dirac equation in central potentials is found to be the analog of the helicity operator of ...     

Space-time structure of weak and electromagnetic interactions

The generator of electromagnetic gauge transformations in the Dirac equation has a unique geometric interpretation and a unique extension to the generators of the gauge group SU(2) × U(1) for the Weinberg-Salam theory of weak and electromagnetic interactions. It follows that internal symmetries of the weak interactions can be interpreted as space-time symmetries of spinor fields in the Dirac algebra. The possibilities for interpreting strong interaction symmetries in a similar way are highly restricted.     

Gauge invariance and the dirac equation

The gauge invariance of the Dirac equation is reviewed and gauge-invariant operators are defined. The Hamiltonian is shown to be gauge dependent, and an energy operator is defined which is gauge invariant. Gauge-invariant operators corresponding to observables are shown to satisfy generalized Ehrenfest theorems. The time rate of change of the expectation value of the energy operator is equal to the expectation value of the power operator. The virial theorem is proved for a relativistic electron in a time-varying electromagnetic field. The conventional approach to probability amplitudes, using the eigenstates of the unperturbed Hamiltonian, is shown in general to be gauge dependent. A gaugeinvariant procedure for probability amplitudes is given, in which eigenstates of the energy operator are used. The two methods are compared by applying them to an electron in a zero electromagnetic field in an arbitrary gauge. Presented at the Dirac Symposium, Loyola University, New Orleans, May 1981.     

Some Problems of the Existence of Symmetry Spinor Operators for the Dirac Equation

Conditions necessary for the existence of a class of fields that can be used to construct the spinor symmetry operators for the Dirac equation in Riemannian space are specified in the present paper. The metrics of spaces with four-dimensional groups of motions in which these fields exist are indicated. A class of spaces is identified in which the Dirac equation admits no separation of variables within the framework of the definition adopted, but the algebra of symmetry of the Dirac equation satisfies the conditions of theorems of the noncommutative intergrability.     

A simple derivation of the overlap Dirac operator

We derive the vector-like four-dimensional overlap Dirac operator starting from a five-dimensional Dirac action in the presence of a delta-function space–time defect. The effective operator is obtained by first integrating out all the fermionic modes in the fixed gauge background, and then identifying the contribution from the localized modes as the determinant of an operator in one dimension less. We define physically relevant degrees of freedom on the defect by introducing an auxiliary defect-bound fermion field and integrating out the original five-dimensional bulk fields.     

含外规范场和动力学费米子自能的狄拉克算符及费米子凝聚

将非阿贝尔规范理论中狄拉克算符行列式的计算从传统的只能含有硬费米子质量项的情况推广到可以含有动量相关的费米子自能的情况，并且行列式与费米子凝聚的计算都被推广到使之能够含有任意的外规范场. 关键词： 费米子自能 外规范场 狄拉克算符的行列式 费米子凝聚     

Symmetry groups, density-matrix equations and covariant Wigner functions

A representation theory for Lie groups is developed taking the Hilbert space, say , of the w^*-algebra standard representation as the representation space. In this context the states describing physical systems are amplitude wave functions but closely connected with the notion of the density matrix. Then, based on symmetry properties, a general physical interpretation for the dual variables of thermal theories, in particular the thermofield dynamics (TFD) formalism, is introduced. The kinematic symmetries, Galilei and Poincaré, are studied and (density) amplitude matrix equations are derived for both of these cases. In the same context of group theory, the notion of phase space in quantum theory is analysed. Thus, in the non-relativistic situation, the concept of density amplitude is introduced, and as an example, a spin-half system is algebraically studied; Wigner function representations for the amplitude density matrices are derived and the connection of TFD and the usual Wigner-function methods are analysed. For the Poincaré symmetries the relativistic density matrix equations are studied for the scalar and spinorial fields. The relativistic phase space is built following the lines of the non-relativistic case. So, for the scalar field, the kinetic theory is introduced via the Klein–Gordon density-matrix equation, and a derivation of the Jüttiner distribution is presented as an example, thus making it possible to compare with the standard approaches. The analysis of the phase space for the Dirac field is carried out in connection with the dual spinor structure induced by the Dirac-field density-matrix equation, with the physical content relying on the symmetry groups. Gauge invariance is considered and, as a basic result, it is shown that the Heinz density operator (which has been used to develope a gauge covariant kinetic theory) is a particular solution for the (Klein–Gordon and Dirac) density-matrix equation.     

Dirac–Kähler Equation

Tensor, matrix, and quaternion formulations of Dirac–Kähler equation for massive and massless fields are considered. The equation matrices obtained are simple linear combinations of matrix elements in the 16-dimensional space. The projection matrix-dyads defining all the 16 independent equation solutions are found. A method of computing the traces of 16-dimensional Petiau–Duffin–Kemmer matrix product is considered. We show that the symmetry group of the Dirac–Kähler tensor fields for charged particles is SO(4, 2). The conservation currents corresponding this symmetry are constructed. We analyze transformations of the Lorentz group and quaternion fields. Supersymmetry of the Dirac–Kähler fields with tensor and spinor parameters is investigated. We show the possibility of constructing a gauge model of interacting Dirac–Kähler fields where the gauge group is the noncompact group under consideration.     

Charge Conservation,Klein’s Paradox and the Concept of Paulions in the Dirac Electron Theory

An algebraic block-diagonalization of the Dirac Hamiltonian in a time-independent external field reveals a charge-index conservation law which forbids the physical phenomena of the Klein paradox type and guarantees a single-particle nature of the Dirac equation in strong external fields. Simultaneously, the method defines simpler quantum-mechanical objects—paulions and antipaulions, whose 2-component wave functions determine the Dirac electron states through exact operator relations. Based on algebraic symmetry, the presented theory leads to a new understanding of the Dirac equation physics, including new insight into the Dirac measurements and a consistent scheme of relativistic quantum mechanics of electron in the paulion representation. Along with analysis of the mathematical anatomy of the Klein paradox falsity, a complete set of paradox-free eigenfunctions for the Klein problem is obtained and investigated via stationary solutions of the Pauli-like equations with respective paulion Hamiltonians. It is shown that the physically correct Dirac states in the Klein zone are characterized by the total particle reflection from the potential step and satisfy the fundamental charge-index conservation law.     

Lattice calculations

In this contribution we describe how an exact chiral symmetry can be realized on the lattice. A practical realization of a lattice Dirac operator that leads to a chiral invariant lattice action is discussed and a simulation with this operator is presented that aims at testing the phenomenon of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in QCD.Received: 30 September 2002, Published online: 22 October 2003PACS: 11.15.Ha Lattice gauge theory - 12.38.Gc Lattice QCD calculations