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Quantum Reports

A New Space-Time Theory Unravels the Origins of Classical Mechanics for the Dirac Equation

Wei Wen

Published Dec 3, 2025• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The Feynman path integral plays a central role in quantum mechanics, linking classical action to propagators and relating quantum electrodynamics (QED) to Feynman diagrams. However, the path-integral formulations used in non-relativistic quantum mechanics and in QED are neither unified nor directly connected. This suggests the existence of a missing path integral that bridges relativistic action and the Dirac equation at the single-particle level. In this work, we analyze the consistency and completeness of existing path-integral theories and identify a spinor path integral that fills this gap. Starting from a relativistic action written in spinor form, we construct a spacetime path integral whose kernel reproduces the Dirac Hamiltonian. The resulting formulation provides a direct link between the relativistic classical action and the Dirac equation, and it naturally extends the scalar relativistic path integral developed in our earlier work. Beyond establishing this structural connection, the spinor path integral offers a new way to interpret the origin of classical mechanics for the Dirac equation and suggests a spacetime mechanism for spin and quantum nonlocal correlations. These features indicate that the spinor path integral can serve as a unifying framework for existing path-integral approaches and as a starting point for further investigations into the spacetime structure of quantum mechanics.

DOI
10.3390/quantum7040059

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A new theory bridging non-relativistic and QED-based path integrals unveils more than quantum mechanics

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The Feynman path integral plays a crucial role in quantum mechanics, offering significant insights into the interaction between classical action and propagators, and linking quantum electrodynamics (QED) with Feynman diagrams. However, the formulations of path integrals in classical quantum mechanics and QED are neither unified nor interconnected, suggesting the potential existence of an important bridging theory that could be key to solving existing puzzles in quantum mechanics. In this work, we delve into the theoretical consistency, completeness, and integration with established path integral theories, revealing this concealed path integral form. This newly uncovered form not only connects various path integral approaches but also demonstrates its potential in explaining quantum phenomena like the origin of spin and quantum nonlocal correlations. It transcends conventional quantum mechanics, proposing a more profound and fundamental physical principle.

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A Unified Integral Equation of Quantum Action: From Duality Relations to Fundamental Equations of Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, and Gauge Theories

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Starting from three fundamental duality relations (time-energy, space-momentum, angle-angular momentum), we establish an integral equation of quantum action and its dual counterpart. This integral equation directly links the evolution of the wave function to the accumulated action of spacetime and rotational degrees of freedom, forming a unified framework for quantum theory. Through semiclassical expansion, local approximation, and relativistic covariance, we rigorously derive the Schr\"odinger equation, Klein-Gordon equation, Dirac equation, Heisenberg equation, Schwinger-Dyson equation, Feynman path integral, Yang-Mills equations, Einstein field equations, and the Friedmann and Schwarzschild solutions. The framework also yields the kinematic effects of special relativity (time dilation, length contraction, mass-energy equivalence) as consequences of the duality structure. Moreover, the nonlocal kernel in the integral equation gives an exponential damping factor in momentum space, providing an intrinsic regularization mechanism for ultraviolet divergences. We extend the framework to quantum electrodynamics (QED), quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the electroweak theory, the full Standard Model, and quantum gravity, obtaining dual formulations for each. From the integral equation and its dual, we automatically derive quantization conditions for energy, momentum, angular momentum, and their duals, and propose experimental schemes to observe these discrete effects. All derivations are complete and rigorous, based on the same integral equation, providing a possible answer to Dirac's criticism that "quantum electrodynamics lacks a fundamental equation" and opening a new path toward a unified theory.

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Dirac and the Path Integral

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Through a very careful analysis of Dirac's 1932 paper on the Lagrangian in Quantum Mechanics as well as the second and third editions of his classic book {\it The Principles of Quantum Mechanics}, I show that Dirac's contributions to the birth of the path-integral approach to quantum mechanics is not restricted to just his seminal demonstration of how Lagrangians appear naturally in quantum mechanics, but that Dirac should be credited for creating a path-integral which I call {\it Dirac path-integral} which is far more general than Feynman's while possessing all its desirable features. On top of it, the Dirac path-integral is fully compatible with the inevitable quantisation ambiguities, while the Feynman path-integral can never have that full consistency. In particular, I show that the claim by Feynman that for infinitesimal time intervals, what Dirac thought were analogues were actually proportional can not be correct always. I have also shown the conection between Dirac path-integrals and the Schrödinger equation. In particular, it is shown that each choice of Dirac path-integral yields a {\it quantum Hamiltonian} that is generically different from what the Feynman path-integral gives, and that all of them have the same {\it classical analogue}. Dirac's method of demonstrating the least action principle for classical mechanics generalizes in a most straightforward way to all the generalized path-integrals.

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Description of the Electron in the Electromagnetic Field: The Dirac type Equation and the Equation for the Wave Function in Spinor Coordinate Space

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Physical processes are usually described using four-dimensional vector quantities - coordinate vector, momentum vector, current vector. But at the fundamental level they are characterized by coordinate and momentum spinors. The propagation of fields and their interaction takes place at the spinor level, and since each spinor uniquely corresponds to a certain vector, the results of physical processes appear before us in vector form. For example, the relativistic Schrödinger equation and the Dirac equation are formulated by means of coordinate vectors, momentum vectors and quantum operators corresponding to them. In the Dirac equation the wave function is a spinor with complex components, but still coordinates and momentum are vectors. For a closed description of nature using only spinor quantities, it is necessary to have an equation similar to the Dirac equation in which momentum, coordinates and operators are spinors. It is such an equation that is presented in this paper. Quantum mechanics describes interactions using complex wave functions that cannot be observed directly; only upon measurement do they translate into probabilities expressed as the squares of the magnitudes of the wave functions. In the same way spinor quantities are not observable, but they completely determine observable vectors. In Section 2 of the paper, we analyze the quadratic form for an arbitrary four-component complex vector based on Pauli matrices. The form is invariant with respect to Lorentz transformations including any rotations and boosts. The invariance of the form allows us to construct on its basis an equation for a free particle combining the properties of the relativistic wave equation and the Dirac equation. For an electron in the presence of an electromagnetic potential it is shown that taking into account the commutation relations between the momentum and coordinate components allows us to obtain from this equation the known results describing the interactions of the electron spin with the electric and magnetic field. In the presence of a potential the momentum components cease to commute with each other. To neutralize this effect, the Schrödinger equation is supplemented by several equations with mixed partial derivatives on coordinates. Section 3 presents a version of quantum theory in spinor coordinate space. Section 4 presents a modification of the theory of the path integral, which consists in considering the path integral in the spinor coordinate space. An equation of motion for the electron is proposed that is relativistically invariant. This novel equation permitted the construction of an actually invariant procedure for the second quantization of the fermion field in spinor coordinate space. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the field operators are a combination of plane waves in spinor or vector space, with the coefficients of which being pseudospinors or pseudovectors. Furthermore, each plane wave possesses an additional coefficient in the form of a creation or annihilation operator. In vector space, these operators commute, whereas in spinor space they anticommutate. The paper presents the spinor and vector representations of the field operators in explicit form, comprising sets of 16 pseudospinors or 4 pseudovectors. An explicit form of the symmetric traceless tensor with spin two, zero mass and two polarizations are presented, which can serve as a model of the graviton. Section 5 presents Einstein's inhomogeneous equation, which features the Riemann tensor rather than the Ricci tensor, with the energy-momentum tensor of a charged particle having four indices rather than two. In the case where a particle of matter has a charge, another Riemann tensor is added to Einstein’s equation, in addition to the usual Riemann curvature tensor, which describes the additional curvature created for a charged particle by an electromagnetic field.

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Description of the Electron in the Electromagnetic Field: The Dirac type Equation and the Equation for the Wave Function in Spinor Coordinate Space

Pavel Gorev

Physical processes are usually described using four-dimensional vector quantities - coordinate vector, momentum vector, current vector. But at the fundamental level they are characterized by spinors - coordinate spinors, momentum spinors, spinor wave functions. The propagation of fields and their interaction takes place at the spinor level, and since each spinor uniquely corresponds to a certain vector, the results of physical processes appear before us in vector form. For example, the relativistic Schrödinger equation and the Dirac equation are formulated by means of coordinate vectors, momentum vectors and quantum operators corresponding to them. In the Dirac equation a step forward is taken and the wave function is a spinor with complex components, but still coordinates and momentum are vectors. For a closed description of nature using only spinor quantities, it is necessary to have an equation similar to the Dirac equation in which momentum, coordinates and operators are spinors. It is such an equation that is presented in this paper. Using the example of the interaction between an electron and an electromagnetic field, we can see that the spinor equation contains more detailed information about the interaction than the vector equations. This is not new for quantum mechanics, since it describes interactions using complex wave functions, which cannot be observed directly, and only when measured goes to probabilities in the form of squares of the moduli of the wave functions. In the same way spinor quantities are not observable, but they completely determine observable vectors. In Section 2 of the paper, we analyze the quadratic form for an arbitrary four-component complex vector based on Pauli matrices. The form is invariant with respect to Lorentz transformations including any rotations and boosts. The invariance of the form allows us to construct on its basis an equation for a free particle combining the properties of the relativistic wave equation and the Dirac equation. For an electron in the presence of an electromagnetic potential it is shown that taking into account the commutation relations between the momentum and coordinate components allows us to obtain from this equation the known results describing the interactions of the electron spin with the electric and magnetic field. In the presence of a potential the momentum components cease to commute with each other. To neutralize this effect, the Schrödinger equation is supplemented by several equations with mixed derivatives on coordinates. In section 3 of the paper this quadratic form is expressed through momentum spinors, which makes it possible to obtain an equation for the spinor wave function in spinor coordinate space by replacing the momentum spinor components by partial derivative operators on the corresponding coordinate spinor component. Section 4 presents a modification of the theory of the path integral, which consists in considering the path integral in the spinor coordinate space. The Lagrangian densities for the scalar field and for the electron field, along with their corresponding propagators, are presented. An equation of motion for the electron is proposed that is relativistically invariant, in contrast to the Dirac equation, which lacks this invariance. This novel equation permitted the construction of an actually invariant procedure for the second quantization of the fermion field in spinor coordinate space. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the field operators are a combination of plane waves in spinor or vector space, with the coefficients of which being pseudospinors or pseudovectors. Each of these pseudovectors or pseudospinors corresponds to one of the particles presented in the theory of electrodynamics. Furthermore, each plane wave possesses an additional coefficient in the form of a creation or annihilation operator. In vector space, these operators commute, whereas in spinor space they anticommutate. The paper presents the spinor and vector representations of the field operators in explicit form, comprising sets of 16 pseudospinors or 4 pseudovectors corresponding to particles represented in electrodynamics. An explicit form of the symmetric traceless tensor with spin two, zero mass and two polarizations is presented, which can serve as a model of the graviton. The results obtained may prompt changes in some aspects of the construction of Feynman diagrams. Among other things, it presents a purely mathematical derivation of Maxwell's inhomogeneous equations without reference to empirical data on the action of electric current, which is usually referred to when deriving equations.

•Nov 11, 2025•0 citations
The Feynman path integral plays a central role in quantum mechanics, linking classical action to propagators and relating quantum electrodynamics (QED) to Feynman diagrams. However, the path-integral formulations used in non-relativistic quantum mechanics and in QED are neither unified nor directly connected. This suggests the existence of a missing path integral that bridges relativistic action and the Dirac equation at the single-particle level. In this work, we analyze the consistency and completeness of existing path-integral theories and identify a spinor path integral that fills this gap. Starting from a relativistic action written in spinor form, we construct a spacetime path integral whose kernel reproduces the Dirac Hamiltonian. The resulting formulation provides a direct link between the relativistic classical action and the Dirac equation, and it naturally extends the scalar relativistic path integral developed in our earlier work. Beyond establishing this structural connection, the spinor path integral offers a new way to interpret the origin of classical mechanics for the Dirac equation and suggests a spacetime mechanism for spin and quantum nonlocal correlations. These features indicate that the spinor path integral can serve as a unifying framework for existing path-integral approaches and as a starting point for further investigations into the spacetime structure of quantum mechanics.
The Feynman path integral plays a crucial role in quantum mechanics, offering significant insights into the interaction between classical action and propagators, and linking quantum electrodynamics (QED) with Feynman diagrams. However, the formulations of path integrals in classical quantum mechanics and QED are neither unified nor interconnected, suggesting the potential existence of an important bridging theory that could be key to solving existing puzzles in quantum mechanics. In this work, we delve into the theoretical consistency, completeness, and integration with established path integral theories, revealing this concealed path integral form. This newly uncovered form not only connects various path integral approaches but also demonstrates its potential in explaining quantum phenomena like the origin of spin and quantum nonlocal correlations. It transcends conventional quantum mechanics, proposing a more profound and fundamental physical principle.
Starting from three fundamental duality relations (time-energy, space-momentum, angle-angular momentum), we establish an integral equation of quantum action and its dual counterpart. This integral equation directly links the evolution of the wave function to the accumulated action of spacetime and rotational degrees of freedom, forming a unified framework for quantum theory. Through semiclassical expansion, local approximation, and relativistic covariance, we rigorously derive the Schr\"odinger equation, Klein-Gordon equation, Dirac equation, Heisenberg equation, Schwinger-Dyson equation, Feynman path integral, Yang-Mills equations, Einstein field equations, and the Friedmann and Schwarzschild solutions. The framework also yields the kinematic effects of special relativity (time dilation, length contraction, mass-energy equivalence) as consequences of the duality structure. Moreover, the nonlocal kernel in the integral equation gives an exponential damping factor in momentum space, providing an intrinsic regularization mechanism for ultraviolet divergences. We extend the framework to quantum electrodynamics (QED), quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the electroweak theory, the full Standard Model, and quantum gravity, obtaining dual formulations for each. From the integral equation and its dual, we automatically derive quantization conditions for energy, momentum, angular momentum, and their duals, and propose experimental schemes to observe these discrete effects. All derivations are complete and rigorous, based on the same integral equation, providing a possible answer to Dirac's criticism that "quantum electrodynamics lacks a fundamental equation" and opening a new path toward a unified theory.
This paper proposes and systematically constructs a novel formulation of quantum mechanics based on complete sets of dual variables and integral operators. Its core postulate elevates the operators of time,spatial position, and phase angle to an equal footing with those of energy, momentum, and action, forming three fundamental dual pairs. Building on this, we define the integral operators ˆT and ˆX for time and space, and derive as a first principle the Quantum Action Balance Equation (QABE)—an integral equation with the action phase eiScl/ℏ as its kernel. We rigorously demonstrate that the Schr¨odinger equation, Dirac equation, and Heisenberg equation naturally emerge as specific limits or corollaries of the QABE under local approximations or expectation value evolution. Furthermore, the Feynman path integral emerges as the direct iterative solution form of this integral equation. We clarify that the quantization of action, phase, and spacetime is not an additional hypothesis but an inevitable mathematical consequence of solving this continuous dynamical framework under inherent algebraic constraints (such as phase compactness) or external physical boundary conditions (such as spacetime periodicity), achieving a conceptual unification for the origin of quantization. Importantly, the inherent non-locality of this integral formulation provides an intrinsic mechanism to circumvent ultraviolet divergences in quantum field theory. This work aims to provide a deeper unified foundation for the different formulations of quantum mechanics and to open new conceptual pathways for bridging quantum theory and gravity
Through a very careful analysis of Dirac's 1932 paper on the Lagrangian in Quantum Mechanics as well as the second and third editions of his classic book {\it The Principles of Quantum Mechanics}, I show that Dirac's contributions to the birth of the path-integral approach to quantum mechanics is not restricted to just his seminal demonstration of how Lagrangians appear naturally in quantum mechanics, but that Dirac should be credited for creating a path-integral which I call {\it Dirac path-integral} which is far more general than Feynman's while possessing all its desirable features. On top of it, the Dirac path-integral is fully compatible with the inevitable quantisation ambiguities, while the Feynman path-integral can never have that full consistency. In particular, I show that the claim by Feynman that for infinitesimal time intervals, what Dirac thought were analogues were actually proportional can not be correct always. I have also shown the conection between Dirac path-integrals and the Schrödinger equation. In particular, it is shown that each choice of Dirac path-integral yields a {\it quantum Hamiltonian} that is generically different from what the Feynman path-integral gives, and that all of them have the same {\it classical analogue}. Dirac's method of demonstrating the least action principle for classical mechanics generalizes in a most straightforward way to all the generalized path-integrals.
Physical processes are usually described using four-dimensional vector quantities - coordinate vector, momentum vector, current vector. But at the fundamental level they are characterized by coordinate and momentum spinors. The propagation of fields and their interaction takes place at the spinor level, and since each spinor uniquely corresponds to a certain vector, the results of physical processes appear before us in vector form. For example, the relativistic Schrödinger equation and the Dirac equation are formulated by means of coordinate vectors, momentum vectors and quantum operators corresponding to them. In the Dirac equation the wave function is a spinor with complex components, but still coordinates and momentum are vectors. For a closed description of nature using only spinor quantities, it is necessary to have an equation similar to the Dirac equation in which momentum, coordinates and operators are spinors. It is such an equation that is presented in this paper. Quantum mechanics describes interactions using complex wave functions that cannot be observed directly; only upon measurement do they translate into probabilities expressed as the squares of the magnitudes of the wave functions. In the same way spinor quantities are not observable, but they completely determine observable vectors. In Section 2 of the paper, we analyze the quadratic form for an arbitrary four-component complex vector based on Pauli matrices. The form is invariant with respect to Lorentz transformations including any rotations and boosts. The invariance of the form allows us to construct on its basis an equation for a free particle combining the properties of the relativistic wave equation and the Dirac equation. For an electron in the presence of an electromagnetic potential it is shown that taking into account the commutation relations between the momentum and coordinate components allows us to obtain from this equation the known results describing the interactions of the electron spin with the electric and magnetic field. In the presence of a potential the momentum components cease to commute with each other. To neutralize this effect, the Schrödinger equation is supplemented by several equations with mixed partial derivatives on coordinates. Section 3 presents a version of quantum theory in spinor coordinate space. Section 4 presents a modification of the theory of the path integral, which consists in considering the path integral in the spinor coordinate space. An equation of motion for the electron is proposed that is relativistically invariant. This novel equation permitted the construction of an actually invariant procedure for the second quantization of the fermion field in spinor coordinate space. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the field operators are a combination of plane waves in spinor or vector space, with the coefficients of which being pseudospinors or pseudovectors. Furthermore, each plane wave possesses an additional coefficient in the form of a creation or annihilation operator. In vector space, these operators commute, whereas in spinor space they anticommutate. The paper presents the spinor and vector representations of the field operators in explicit form, comprising sets of 16 pseudospinors or 4 pseudovectors. An explicit form of the symmetric traceless tensor with spin two, zero mass and two polarizations are presented, which can serve as a model of the graviton. Section 5 presents Einstein's inhomogeneous equation, which features the Riemann tensor rather than the Ricci tensor, with the energy-momentum tensor of a charged particle having four indices rather than two. In the case where a particle of matter has a charge, another Riemann tensor is added to Einstein’s equation, in addition to the usual Riemann curvature tensor, which describes the additional curvature created for a charged particle by an electromagnetic field.
Physical processes are usually described using four-dimensional vector quantities - coordinate vector, momentum vector, current vector. But at the fundamental level they are characterized by spinors - coordinate spinors, momentum spinors, spinor wave functions. The propagation of fields and their interaction takes place at the spinor level, and since each spinor uniquely corresponds to a certain vector, the results of physical processes appear before us in vector form. For example, the relativistic Schrödinger equation and the Dirac equation are formulated by means of coordinate vectors, momentum vectors and quantum operators corresponding to them. In the Dirac equation a step forward is taken and the wave function is a spinor with complex components, but still coordinates and momentum are vectors. For a closed description of nature using only spinor quantities, it is necessary to have an equation similar to the Dirac equation in which momentum, coordinates and operators are spinors. It is such an equation that is presented in this paper. Using the example of the interaction between an electron and an electromagnetic field, we can see that the spinor equation contains more detailed information about the interaction than the vector equations. This is not new for quantum mechanics, since it describes interactions using complex wave functions, which cannot be observed directly, and only when measured goes to probabilities in the form of squares of the moduli of the wave functions. In the same way spinor quantities are not observable, but they completely determine observable vectors. In Section 2 of the paper, we analyze the quadratic form for an arbitrary four-component complex vector based on Pauli matrices. The form is invariant with respect to Lorentz transformations including any rotations and boosts. The invariance of the form allows us to construct on its basis an equation for a free particle combining the properties of the relativistic wave equation and the Dirac equation. For an electron in the presence of an electromagnetic potential it is shown that taking into account the commutation relations between the momentum and coordinate components allows us to obtain from this equation the known results describing the interactions of the electron spin with the electric and magnetic field. In the presence of a potential the momentum components cease to commute with each other. To neutralize this effect, the Schrödinger equation is supplemented by several equations with mixed derivatives on coordinates. In section 3 of the paper this quadratic form is expressed through momentum spinors, which makes it possible to obtain an equation for the spinor wave function in spinor coordinate space by replacing the momentum spinor components by partial derivative operators on the corresponding coordinate spinor component. Section 4 presents a modification of the theory of the path integral, which consists in considering the path integral in the spinor coordinate space. The Lagrangian densities for the scalar field and for the electron field, along with their corresponding propagators, are presented. An equation of motion for the electron is proposed that is relativistically invariant, in contrast to the Dirac equation, which lacks this invariance. This novel equation permitted the construction of an actually invariant procedure for the second quantization of the fermion field in spinor coordinate space. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the field operators are a combination of plane waves in spinor or vector space, with the coefficients of which being pseudospinors or pseudovectors. Each of these pseudovectors or pseudospinors corresponds to one of the particles presented in the theory of electrodynamics. Furthermore, each plane wave possesses an additional coefficient in the form of a creation or annihilation operator. In vector space, these operators commute, whereas in spinor space they anticommutate. The paper presents the spinor and vector representations of the field operators in explicit form, comprising sets of 16 pseudospinors or 4 pseudovectors corresponding to particles represented in electrodynamics. An explicit form of the symmetric traceless tensor with spin two, zero mass and two polarizations is presented, which can serve as a model of the graviton. The results obtained may prompt changes in some aspects of the construction of Feynman diagrams. Among other things, it presents a purely mathematical derivation of Maxwell's inhomogeneous equations without reference to empirical data on the action of electric current, which is usually referred to when deriving equations.