Bosons, fermions, and the Feshbach-Villars transformation

Tahar Boudjedaa, L. Chétouani, M. Merad

In this paper, we propose to construct a path integral formalism for a spinless particle in the Feshbach-Villars formalism. The Pauli matrices describing the isocharge symmetry are replaced by the bosonic Schwinger model and the coherent state representation is then used. The radial free case is determined via the Foldy-Wouthuysen canonical transformation and the important case of the Coulomb potential is investigated. The Green functions are evaluated and the energy spectrum and corresponding wave functions are exactly deduced. PACS. 03.65.Db – Functional analytical methods. PACS. 03.65.Pm – Relativistic wave equations. PACS. 03.65.Ge – Solutions of wave equations: bound states. I.

Alexander J. Silenko

Abstract Zitterbewegung of massive and massless scalar bosons and a massive Proca (spin-1) boson is analyzed. The equations describing the evolution of the velocity and position of the scalar boson in the generalized Feshbach–Villars representation and the corresponding equations for the massive Proca particle in the Sakata–Taketani representation are equivalent to each other and to the well-known equations for the Dirac particle. However, Zitterbewegung does not appear in the Foldy–Wouthuysen representation. Since the position and velocity operators in the Foldy–Wouthuysen representation and their transforms to other representations are the quantum-mechanical counterparts of the corresponding classical variables, Zitterbewegung is not observable.

Techapon Kampu, Salvatore De Vincenzo

We analyze the problem of a free 1D Klein-Fock-Gordon-Majorana (KFGM) particle in an interval. By free, we mean that there is no potential within the interval and that its walls are penetrable; hence, the pertinent energy current density does not vanish at the walls. Certainly, quantization in an interval is not trivial because certain restrictions imposed by the domains of the operators involved arise. Here, our objective is to obtain the Hamiltonian for these particles. In practice, the Feshbach-Villars (FV)--free Hamiltonian is the proper operator for characterizing them and is a function of the momentum operator. Additionally, a Majorana condition must also be imposed on the wavefunctions on which these two operators can act. Thus, we start by calculating the pseudo self-adjoint momentum operator. A three-parameter set of boundary conditions (BCs) constitutes its domain. Up to this point, the domain of the Hamiltonian is induced by the domain of the momentum operator; however, we ensure that only the BCs for which the energy current density has the same value at each end of the interval are in its domain. All these BCs essentially belong to a one-parameter set of BCs. Moreover, because the FV equation is invariant under the operation of parity, the parity-transformed wavefunction is also a solution of this equation, which further restricts the domain of the free FV Hamiltonian. Finally, knowing the most general three-parameter set of BCs for the pseudo self-adjoint FV Hamiltonian for a 1D KFGM particle in an interval, we find that only two BCs can remain within the domain of the FV--free Hamiltonian: the periodic BC and the antiperiodic BC. These BCs are satisfied by both the two-component FV wavefunction, with these components being related, and the one-component KFG wavefunction, which can be real or imaginary.

Arnout Jozef Ceulemans