It is shown that in the context of stochastic-phase-space formulations of quantum mechanics a nonlocal type of nonrelativistic as well as relativistic dynamics for a massive spin-zero particle moving in an external electromagnetic field can be formulated in ${L}^{2}(\ensuremath{\Gamma})$ space. In a sharp-point limit $s\ensuremath{\rightarrow}+0$ the nonrelativistic dynamics merges into the conventional local model. The relativistic dynamics is gauge invariant, it can be formulated covariantly in the relativistic phase space
Mm, it possesses a covariant propagator, it leaves the space of positive-energy solutions of the Klein-Gordon equation invariant, and it gives rise to a covariant and conserved probability current on stochastic phase space. Furthermore, for states describing a particle moving at nonrelativistic speeds in relation to a given inertial frame, the relativistic propagation contracts into its nonrelativistic counterpart. The sharp-point limit $s\ensuremath{\rightarrow}+0$ of the relativistic
S matrix also exists in each such inertial frame. The necessity of interactions acting at nonsharp configuration points for a consistent formulation of covariant relativistic one-particle dynamics is traced to the question of the nonexistence of covariant position operators in relativistic theories. The mandatory character of this feature is shown to be firmly rooted in the theory of quantum measurement.
A novel Hamiltonian scheme for non–relativistic quantum electrodynamics in which the gauge arbitrariness of the field potential is kept explicit is used to study the gauge–dependence properties of various versions of perturbation theory when resonance and line–broadening effects are admitted. Time–dependent perturbation theory is shown to have severe gauge–dependence problems unless ad hoc modifications are made. A time–independent formulation of S–matrix theory is then studied. Far from resonance, the S–matrix is gauge invariant in all orders of perturbation theory due to a very precise cancellation of gauge–dependent terms which requires, among other things, complete sets of intermediate states; energy conservation also has a crucial role. However, an obvious separation of the S–matrix into a resonant (pole) and non–resonant background leads to incomplete cancellation of the gauge–dependent terms. The introduction of the Heitler damping matrix into an integral equation for the T–matrix leads to a gauge–invariant result. This provides the basis for a gauge invariant S–matrix theory of atoms and molecules interacting with electromagnetic radiation that encompasses resonance and damping effects.
The traditional standard theory of quantum mechanics is unable to solve the spin-statistics problem, i.e. to justify the utterly important “Pauli Exclusion Principle” but by the adoption of the complex standard relativistic quantum field theory. In a recent paper [E. Santamato and F. D. De Martini, Found. Phys. 45 (2015) 858] we presented a complete proof of the spin-statistics problem in the nonrelativistic approximation on the basis of the “Conformal Quantum Geometrodynamics” (CQG). In this paper, by the same theory, the proof of the spin-statistics theorem (SST) is extended to the relativistic domain in the scenario of curved spacetime. No relativistic quantum field operators are used in the present proof and the particle exchange properties are drawn from rotational invariance rather than from Lorentz invariance. Our relativistic approach allows to formulate a manifestly step-by-step Weyl gauge invariant theory and to emphasize some fundamental aspects of group theory in the demonstration. As in the nonrelativistic case, we find once more that the “intrinsic helicity” of the elementary particles enters naturally into play. It is therefore this property, not considered in the standard quantum mechanics (SQM), which determines the correct spin-statistics connection observed in Nature.