On the relativistic quantum mechanics of a photon between two electrons in $$1+1$$ dimensions

Abstract

Abstract A Lorentz-covariant system of wave equations is formulated for a quantum-mechanical three-body system in one space dimension, comprised of one photon and two identical massive spin one-half Dirac particles, which can be thought of as two electrons (or alternatively, two positrons). Manifest covariance is achieved using Dirac’s formalism of multi-time wave functions, i.e., wave functions $$\Psi ({\textbf {x}}_{\text {ph}},{\textbf {x}}_{\text {e}_1},{\textbf {x}}_{\text {e}_2})$$ Ψ ( x ph , x e 1 , x e 2 ) where $${\textbf {x}}_{\text {ph}},{\textbf {x}}_{\text {e}_1},{\textbf {x}}_{\text {e}_2}$$ x ph , x e 1 , x e 2 are generic spacetime events of the photon and two electrons, respectively. Their interaction is implemented via a Lorentz-invariant no-crossing-of-paths boundary condition at the coincidence submanifolds $$\{{\textbf {x}}_{\text {ph}}={\textbf {x}}_{\text {e}_1}\}$$ { x ph = x e 1 } and $$\{{\textbf {x}}_{\text {ph}}={\textbf {x}}_{\text {e}_2}\}$$ { x ph = x e 2 } compatible with conservation of probability current. The corresponding initial-boundary value problem is shown to be well-posed, and it is shown that the unique solution can be represented by a convergent infinite sum of Feynman-like diagrams, each one corresponding to the photon bouncing between the two electrons a fixed number of times.