Tuesday, May 24, 2016

quantum mechanics - Showing Dirac equation's Lorentz invariance and use of unitary matrix U


Dirac equation is iγμμψmcψ=0



To show its Lorentz invariance, we convert spacetime into x and t from x and t and then


(iUγμUμm)ψ(x,t)=0


The question is, how does one show from the above equation the following equation follows?:


U(iγμμm)Uψ(x,t)=0


where U is some unitary matrix for lorentz transformation for ψ.



Answer



Actually, "unitary representation" is meant with respect to the spinors, which do not form a finite-dimensional space and therefore allow a unitary representation of the proper Lorentz group. The action is defined by D(Λ)ψ(x)=U(Λ)ψ(Λ1x), and you can simply calculate that this is unitary on your spinor space. However, this does not(!) mean that the matrix U is actually unitary. Therefore I also assume, that you mean U1 instead of U.


To your problem: Just notice that U is actually a matrix constant with respect to x, therefore it commutes with μ, and therefore you have (iU1γμUμm)=(iU1γμμUU1mU)=U1(iγμμm)U.


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