4

The Dirac equation

The Dirac equation,
(i

m)(x) = 0 , (4.A)
is an equation of the free relativistic particle with spin 1/2. The general solu-
tion of this equation is given by
(x) =
1
(2)
3
2
2

r=1
_
d
3
p
_
m
E
p
_
u
r
(p)c
r
(p)e
ipx
+v
r
(p)d

r
(p)e
ipx
_
, (4.B)
where u
r
(p) and v
r
(p) are the basic bispinors which satisfy equations
(/ p m)u
r
(p) = 0 ,
(/ p +m)v
r
(p) = 0 .
(4.C)
We use the normalization
u
r
(p)u
s
(p) = v
r
(p)v
s
(p) =
rs
,
u
r
(p)v
s
(p) = v
r
(p)u
s
(p) = 0.
(4.D)
The coecients c
r
(p) and d
r
(p) in (4.B) being given determined by boundary
conditions. Equation (4.A) can be rewritten in the form
i

t
= H
D
,
where H
D
= p + m is the socalled Dirac Hamiltonian.
Under the Lorentz transformation, x

, Dirac spinor, (x) trans-

forms as

(x

) = S()(x) = e

i
4

(x) . (4.E)
S() is the Lorentz transformation matrix in spinor representation, and it
satises the equations:
S
1
() =
0
S

()
0
,
18 Problems
S
1
()

S() =

.
The equation for an electron with charge e in an electromagnetic eld A

is
given by
[i

ieA

) m] (x) = 0 . (4.F)
Under parity, Dirac spinors transform as
(t, x)

(t, x) =
0
(t, x) . (4.G)
Time reversal is an antiunitary operation:
(t, x)

(t, x) = T

(t, x) . (4.H)
The matrix T, satises
T

T
1
=

=
T

. (4.I)
The solution of the above condition is T = i
1

3
, in the Dirac representation
of matrices. It is easy to see that T

= T
1
= T = T

.
Under charge conjugation, spinors (x) transform as follows
(x)
c
(x) = C

T
. (4.J)
The matrix C satises the relations:
C

C
1
=
T

, C
1
= C
T
= C

= C . (4.K)
In the Dirac representation, the matrix C is given by C = i
2

0
.
4.1. Find which of the operators given below commute with the Dirac Hamil-
tonian:
(a) p = i ,
(b) L = r p ,
(c) L
2
,
(d) S =
1
2
, where =
i
2
,
(e) J = L+S ,
(f) J
2
,
(g)
p
|p|
,
(h) n, where n is a unit vector.
4.2. Solve the Dirac equation for a free particle, i.e. derived (4.B).
4.3. Find the energy of the states u
s
(p)e
ipx
and v
s
(p)e
ipx
for the Dirac
particle.
Chapter 4. The Dirac equation 19
4.4. Using the solution of Problem 4.2 show that
2

r=1
u
r
(p) u
r
(p) =
/p +m
2m

+
(p) ,

r=1
v
r
(p) v
r
(p) =
/p m
2m

(p) .
The quantities
+
(p) and

(p) are energy projection operators.

4.5. Show that
2

, and
+

= 0. How do these projectors act on the

basic spinors u
r
(p) and v
r
(p)? Derive these results with and without using
explicit expressions for spinors.
4.6. The spin operator in the rest frame for a Dirac particle is dened by
S =
1
2
. Prove that:
(a) =
5

0
,
(b) [S
i
, S
j
] = i
ijk
S
k
,
(c) S
2
=
3
4
.
4.7. Prove that:
p
|p|
u
r
(p) = (1)
r+1
u
r
(p) ,
p
|p|
v
r
(p) = (1)
r
v
r
(p) .
Are spinors u
r
(p) and v
r
(p) eigenstates of the operator n, where n is a
unit vector? Check the same property for the spinors in the rest frame.
4.8. Find the boost operator for the transition from the rest frame to the
frame moving with velocity v along the zaxis, in the spinor representation.
Is this operator unitary?
4.9. Solve the previous problem upon transformation to the system rotated
around the zaxis for an angle . Is this operator a unitary one?
4.10. The PauliLubanski vector is dened by W

=
1
2

, where
M

=
1
2

+ i(x

) is angular momentum, while P

is linear mo-
mentum. Show that
W
2
(x) =
1
2
(1 +
1
2
)m
2
(x) ,
where (x) is a solution of the Dirac equation.
20 Problems
4.11. The covariant operator which projects the spin operator onto an arbi-
trary normalized fourvector s

(s
2
= 1) is given by W

, where s p = 0,
i.e. the vector polarization s

is orthogonal to the momentum vector. Show

that
W

m
=
1
2m

5
/s/p .
Find this operator in the rest frame.
4.12. In addition to the spinor basis, one often uses the helicity basis. The
helicity basis is obtained by taking n = p/|p| in the rest frame. Find the
equations for the spin in this case.
4.13. Find the form of the equations for the spin, dened in Problem 4.12 in
the ultrarelativistic limit.
4.14. Show that the operator
5
/s commutes with the operator /p, and that the
eigenvalues of this operator are 1. Find the eigenprojectors of the operator

5
/s. Prove that these projectors commute with projectors onto positive and
negative energy states,

(p).
4.15. Consider a Diracs particle moving along the zaxis with momentum p.
The nonrelativistic spin wave function is given by
=
1
_
|a|
2
+|b|
2
_
a
b
_
.
Calculate the expectation value of the spin projection onto a unit vector n,
i.e. n. Find the nonrelativistic limit.
4.16. Find the Dirac spinor for an electron moving along the zaxis with
momentum p. The electron is polarized along the direction n = (, =

2
).
Calculate the expectation value of the projection spin on the polarization
vector in that state.
4.17. Is the operator
5
a constant of motion for the free Dirac particle? Find
the eigenvalues and projectors for this operator.
4.18. Let us introduce

L
=
1
2
(1
5
) ,

R
=
1
2
(1 +
5
) ,
where is a Dirac spinor. Derive the equations of motion for these elds.
Show that they are decoupled in the case of a massless spinor. The elds
L

R
are known as Weyl elds.
Chapter 4. The Dirac equation 21
4.19. Let us consider the system of the following twocomponent equations:
i

R
(x)
x

= m
L
(x) ,
i

L
(x)
x

= m
R
(x) ,
where

= (I, );

= (I, ).
(a) Is it possible to rewrite this system of equations as a Dirac equation? If this
is possible, nd a unitary matrix which relates the new set of matrices
with the Dirac ones.
(b) Prove that the system of equations given above is relativistically covariant.
Find 2 2 matrices S
R
and S
L
, which satisfy

R,L
(x

) = S
R,L

R,L
(x),
where

R,L
is a wave function obtained from
R,L
(x) by a boost along the
xaxis.
4.20. Prove that the operator K = ( L+1), where =
i
2
is the
spin operator and L is orbital momentum, commutes with the Dirac Hamil-
tonian.
4.21. Prove the Gordon identities:
2m u(p
1
)

u(p
2
) = u(p
1
)[(p
1
+p
2
)

+ i

(p
1
p
2
)

]u(p
2
) ,
2m v(p
1
)

v(p
2
) = v(p
1
)[(p
1
+p
2
)

+ i

(p
1
p
2
)

]v(p
2
) .
Do not use any particular representation of Dirac spinors.
4.22. Prove the following identity:
u(p

(p +p

u(p) = i u(p

)(p

p)

u(p) .
4.23. The current J

is given by J

= u(p
2
)/ p
1

/p
2
u(p
1
), where u(p) and
u(p) are Dirac spinors. Show that J

can be written in the following form:

J

= u(p
2
)[F
1
(m, q
2
)

+F
2
(m, q
2
)

]u(p
1
) ,
where q = p
2
p
1
. Determine the functions F
1
and F
2
.
4.24. Rewrite the expression
u(p)
1
2
(1
5
)u(p)
as a function of the normalization factor N = u

(p)u(p).
4.25. Consider the current
J

= u(p
2
)p

u(p
1
) ,
where u(p
1
) and u(p
2
) are Dirac spinors; p = p
1
+ p
2
and q = p
2
p
1
. Show
that J

has the following form:

J

= u(p
2
)(F
1

+F
2
q

+F
3

)u(p
1
) ,
and determine the functions F
i
= F
i
(q
2
, m), (i = 1, 2, 3).
22 Problems
4.26. Prove that if (x) is a solution of the Dirac equation, that it is also a
solution of the Klein-Gordon equation.
4.27. Determine the probability density =

0
and the current density
j =

, for an electron with momentum p and in an arbitrary spin state.
4.28. Find the time dependence of the position operator r
H
(t) = e
iHt
re
iHt
for a free Dirac particle.
4.29. The state of the free electron at time t = 0 is given by
(t = 0, x) =
(3)
(x)

1
0
0
0

.
Find (t > 0, x).
4.30. Determine the time evolution of the wave packet
(t = 0, x) =
1
(d
2
)
3
4
exp
_

x
2
2d
2
_

1
0
0
0

,
for the Dirac equation.
4.31. An electron with momentum p = pe
z
and positive helicity meets a
potential barrier
eA
0
=
_
0, z < 0
V, z > 0
.
Calculate the coecients of reection and transmission.
4.32. Find the coecients of reection and transmission for an electron mov-
ing in a potential barrier:
eA
0
=
_
0, z < 0, z > a
V, 0 < z < a
.
The energy of the electron is E, while its helicity is 1/2.
4.33. Let an electron move in a potential hole 2a wide and V deep. Consider
only bound states of the electron.
(a) Find the dispersion relations.
(b) Determine the relation between V and a if there are N bound states. Take
V < 2m. If there is only one bound state present in the spectrum, is it
odd or even?
(c) Give a rough description of the dispersion relations for V > 2m.
Chapter 4. The Dirac equation 23
4.34. Determine the energy spectrum of an electron in a constant magnetic
eld B = Be
z
.
4.35. Show that if (x) is a solution of the Dirac equation in an electromag-
netic eld, then it satises the generalize Klein-Gordon equation:
[(

ieA

)(

ieA

)
e
2

+m
2
](x) = 0 ,
where F

is the eld strength tensor.

4.36. Find the nonrelativistic approximation of the Dirac Hamiltonian H =
(p +eA) eA
0
+m, including terms of order
v
2
c
2
.
4.37. If V

(x) =

(x)

(x) is a vector eld, show that V

is a real quantity.
Find the transformation properties of this quantity under proper orthochro-
nous Lorentz transformations, charge conjugation C, parity P and time re-
versal T.
4.38. Investigate the transformation properties of the quantity A

(x) =

(x)

5
(x), under proper orthochronous Lorentz transformations and the
discrete transformations C, P and T.
4.39. Prove that the quantity

(x)

(x) is a Lorentz scalar. Find its

transformation rules under the discrete transformations.
4.40. Using the Dirac equation, show that C u
T
(p, s) = v(p, s), where C is
charge conjugation. Also, prove the above relation in a concrete representa-
tion.
4.41. The matrix C is dened by
C

C
1
=
T

.
Prove that if matrices C

and C

satisfy the above relation, then C

= kC

,
where k is a constant.
4.42. If
(x) = N
p

_
1
0
_

3
p
E
p
+m
_
1
0
_

e
iEt+ipz
,
is the wave function in frame S of the relativistic particle whose spin is 1/2,
nd:
(a) the wave function
c
(x) = C

T
(x) of the antiparticle,
(b) the wave function of this particle for an observer moving with momentum
p = pe
z
,
(c) the wave functions which are obtained after space and time inversion,
24 Problems
(d) the wave function in a frame which is obtained from S by a rotation about
the xaxis through .
4.43. Find the matrices C and P in the Weyl representation of the matrices.
4.44. Prove that the helicity of the Dirac particle changes sign under space
inversion, but not under time reversal.
4.45. The Dirac Hamiltonian is H = p + m. Determine the parameter
from the condition that the new Hamiltonian H

= UHU

, where U =
e
p(p)
has even form, i.e. H

. (FoldyWouthuysen transformation).
4.46. Show that the spin operator =
i
2
and the angular momentum
L = r p, in FoldyWouthuysen representation, have the following form:

FW
=
m
E
p
+
p(p )
2E
p
(m+E
p
)
+
i(p)
2E
p
,
L
FW
= L
p(p )
2E
p
(m +E
p
)
+
p
2

2E
p
(m +E
p
)

i(p)
2E
p
.
4.47. Find the FoldyWouthuysen transform of the position operator x and
the momentum operator p. Calculate the commutator [x
FW
, p
FW
].