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Journal of Mathematical Physics

Propagation of a Dirac particle. A path integral approach

Takashi Ichinose, Hiroshi Tamura

Published Jun 1, 1984• 32 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Rigorous path integral formulas are given which represent, in two space-time dimensions, the fundamental solution of the Cauchy problem for the Dirac equation as well as the retarded and advanced propagators for the Dirac particle. It is also shown that the theory can be applied to a free particle and a particle in a central electric field in four space-time dimensions and reveals some aspects of the path integral. Heuristically discussed is the connection with the phase space path integral or Hamiltonian path integral.

DOI
10.1063/1.526360

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Rigorous path integral formulas are given which represent, in two space-time dimensions, the fundamental solution of the Cauchy problem for the Dirac equation as well as the retarded and advanced propagators for the Dirac particle. It is also shown that the theory can be applied to a free particle and a particle in a central electric field in four space-time dimensions and reveals some aspects of the path integral. Heuristically discussed is the connection with the phase space path integral or Hamiltonian path integral.
The feasibility of applying the path-integral formalism for solving the Dirac equation is shown in the case of a free particle for which the Dirac propagator is obtained by evaluating an appropriate path integral, directly constructed from the Dirac equation. Furthermore, the propagator for a Dirac electron in a constant magnetic field is indirectly obtained from the propagator of an auxiliary wave equation by evaluating a world-line (space-time path) integral. The spectrum of the Dirac equation is also, in this case, extracted from an auxiliary propagator.
A nonstandard path space is constructed that gives the mathematically rigorous formulation for the path integral representation of the fundamental solution to the Cauchy problem for the Dirac equation in (1+1)-dimensional space-time. Nonstandard analysis makes the mathematical concepts elementary, consequently, the procedures to prove theorems are considerably simplified. A difference scheme with infinitesimal spacing is available in determining the probability distribution over the path-space and this method is also available for the heat equation and for the free Schrödinger equation.
A c-number path integral representation is constructed for the solution of the Dirac equation. The integration is over the real trajectories in the continuous three-space and other two canonical pairs of compact variables controlling the dynamics of the spin and the chirality flips. The problems to overcome in order to find a c-number path integral representation for the solution of the Dirac equation i¯h∂tΨ = HΨ = [ (−ic¯h ∂ + eA) · α + mc 2 β − eV] Ψ (1) is (i) to generate the first order derivatives in the space coordinates and (ii) to treat the spinor indices. The traditional method to tackle these problems is to use space-time lattice and sum over the lattice trajectories [1], and the application of Grassman variables [2]. The inherent limitation of this solution lies in the difficulty in arriving at the propagation in continuous space and in developing analytic non-perturbative approximations. We present