Free Fields Canonical Quantization In quantum mechanics, canonical quantization isa recipe that takes us from the Hamiltonian formalism of classical «dynamics to the quantum theory. The recipe tells us to take the generalized coordinates q, and their conjugate ‘momenta pjand promote them to operators. The Poisson bracket structure of classical mechanics morphs into the structure of commutation relations between operators, 0 that, in units with = 1, [ae] =%» [aon] = % [pap] = 0 In field theory we do the same, now forthe field #(3) and its momentum conjugate (2) GHD, pales), 6, >d(x-x) [6¢.2),26,9)] = 0° R-P). [40.9.3] = 0, [203.26] = 0 If we have n fields we have n degrees of freedom. Ifthere are N fields {g}=1,2,..N , then tre PC pe Fy [A209] = 6,8°R-7) a ee ject ‘Cleese 4 [469.9049] =% [ateadat9] = 0 ‘Note that we've lost all track of Lorentz invariance since we have separated space 7 and time t. We are working in mogneN'® the Schrddinger picture so that the operators ¢() and (3) do not depend on time at all — only on space. All Jie! time dependence sits in the states |y) which evolve by the usual Schrddinger equation aly Mle) — nly) Wea dle pg. om us gts Wh wir may spying ta iva fields. Be warned however that the notation |y) for the state is deceptively simple: if you were to write the wave funetion in quantum field theory, it would be a functional, that is a function of every possible configuration of the field ¢.. Any quantization in quantum mechanics is formulated by the probabil P= lela = Keely? here represent fel functions in one frame and in another fame, The state vectors are related by unitary transformation 4) = Urge) UAauAa (veld) = (vilU"U|A) = (vila) Expectation value of field operator: In quantum field theory we require that the expectation value of field operators to be a scalar. oo —~JFrom this (wilocrlys) = (Wwele |r) = (lUteeru|y,) Hx) = Ue(xU we U(ARU(A) => PAR) = U(AIUT(A) Wx+a) = Ula)p(xU"(a) Gere quiet 1 we =f t ince lor aie omer Proof: @(x+a) = o(x)+a"3,0(x)+O(a) = Other mer _p tle) = 0 etry, U(a)6(2U" (a) = (+i0" p,)6(xX1-ia" p,) U(a) PU" (a) = 42) +ia"[p,.6()] = $(2)+0°0,6(x) = O44) % (eer iotgger? r= ae, ) Peers ian g -ia'dQ, > Cphyy. -iagd Gexrs iat [RP] ooConstruction of Translation operator: For the Lagrangian L = 20,9 - 180" = 08 VERE 68° ey = —4_ 2 yn = ¢. 6.900) . oo pies OY Saya” Hx) = 4. 0.2] = aba § 2 = gb+n'x-(Be' -V9V0'- 1°99") HU6.m) = [laf +Iv9f +16" ] The Hamiltonian: H(¢) = { [lel +|V 9 +4'|6 Jax" (HO,8) = f [[e 2+ 9606 +269) ar eee ‘ (6.269) =i [FURAN] = PED Cy er 1B OOH ) (40.9) = J [#(x)2(1.2'),6(43)] "x" (#0) = [x (6x*)[4 (42°), 0(4.2)]ax : (HO9) = f° (8)[-]OG- 90x" = -in" (1,2) "RP — > [AW.AL = ~10,4] - Heisenberg picture ol = | [(extvere +i) z]ar [veve +u'6e' a ]a°x = f([Vo.a]V6 +°[¢.2]9°)a'x" (Vis? (—29V 9" + 17i8?(Z-399")a x" [en] aw Zoe 0sey aot [H(@.a] = i(-V? +42) 6° ae Klein-Gordon equation: (aty*)¢" = 0 =>(a.-V'+u")¢" [WO = ~105F =~ 10.7" LH. F@.2)] = -i0,F (9,7) Space Translational operator: p' = Ome'o+ a0 )d’x’ (hk =1,2,3) (1,01 = [[wte+a'cte' oe] d'x" = [[xoca]o'e a's [eg] = [18a De H2) ax [FA ==.) (elm) = [lasts a6"), 209] ax (Pal =i x2) Verify [p',p"] = 0 Vol = [weer eonaperee yar Lp l= [[otew ores «ae)]ax =i Hx) tenn ax 231ey wl He #m 8 +L. AEM 1G a [pl = ie ater Free field theories: Free field theories typically have Lagrangians which are quadratic in the fields, so thatthe {equations of motion are linear. For example, the simples relativistic free theory isthe classical Klein-Gordon (KG) equation for areal scalar field 4,0), ) | 0,0-u'9 = 0 Pm ve more #r them | 1 to Creation the sotution: yx) = hs FPP facpyet saipyte] Gay? 4 anbilatien i] Cael _ +0 XS ] pr ply Lt =o fy =o oper | (an) (2n) |) Ge) ale JPY oe = ¥@) V0) = Goa lao [* Os sams] = veo | Creation and Annhilation operators: After quantisation, the Klein-Gordon equation we derived earlier tums into ‘an equation for operators. For its solution we simply promote the classical plane wave solution, to operator status. We now apply the quantization of the harmonic oscillator to the free scalar field. We write @ and x as a linear sum of an infinite number of creation a’, and annihilation a, operators indexed themes 2 at (due te Hermit) | | - [ayer +aje™], (p= p's, Fd 2) orl el |]. (or= e's.) Ape ‘ee cage | Since (2) gong tobe an observable it mst be Hemitan, hence we get arg ' [4,20] = [ene] [eG] = 0 [rz] -0 5, = 2ny'8'(5-H, [a,,0,] = [a',,0] = 0 Qe 22 nae oe ener Pe x) = ar! ig ee yer raze] a6) = (0 fP Epyl ae" —ale™ Fy Pema ape") Jieweue ~ 1 agro pee facew-n « ane@p RE displiane™ = a, + afc al emnor aan > el je (ECP WE.) + im Ne" atjeom = rem! (Ep 1) ia)" P(E (F,1)- in, rs Tan! EPA 1)~ in) e" 232e—-P aa a= 'x(E(p 6G) ine" a | EEN * Lt 7. ze a= xB DIR ~in SNe Tro! (ECD) imate (a,,a}]= jaz El (Ht) + ieee” (EL J.t)- ia, len aal= |S pybgy EPMA mle” (ELC. iaCF.0) F_@’xd’y 2 2. a = j= (-4E( p)[O(%,0), (5,0) +iE(Q)[7(F,.0, 00.0 ]e i ine OE. 25.9] +18 [a.0.65.0)] [A220] = 8 E-H, [6@).6H] = 0, [2H rH] = 0 ye f—aad’y 3-71 (ay, a 5 SME(p)+ E(qhye™™ lenad= J Ecpeay e SHEUP+ Eta = E+E T pyre = (24) sea .f]= Bsc" = (20) 5p (ey all 2 cay ee Proof: Assume that [44}] = ea e@-a, et PB re eae 0 = Gar lel +aje"] -i_ 7 », [Ee at x0) = ef ae EP [ae - afer] 6,0), 65,0) = JP ata [EDLs ate"? 410! a, oY Uo.0 x01 = Se JE EE [another slo, ay) 47] WG). *0)] = way leer] 182-3) 01 apy Le nelom evita” =p j adeemiain ys REC) ~ 1 i 5 a= od x(EX (F,1)- 18, E,Ne™ = dxe"5,9(3, 7 Be! (EWE 1) 10,98, N)e Tat! Ait) [4.0] = @2y'8°(-a). [a,.a,] = [0',,a)] = 0 ‘The field operators a’ and a can therefore be identified as operators that create and annihilate bosonic particles. ope Although it would be tempting to adopt a different normalisation wherein [a, a"! = 1 (as is done in many texts), we chose to adopt the convention above where the covariance of the normalisation is manifest. Using this fe) vaceume ptote Ithas unitnorm, (00) = 1 ‘These are just the commutation relations for creation and annihilation operators. So the quantum field (x) is a sum overall momenta of creation and annihilation operators: 233the Hamitonianis HW = {2fa*)+ (play 1°" ]dx ax" pd’g JE()ECQ) af 22a ae je Jie ae] he” J[idae™ — ale ] i ie Niwa w + eahe"lae™ sate ‘ake eh Moe sien) @xd’ pd?q esd’ pa peggy Haar fEope@ +(E Bla) B-a-+4)[opaje* aaj] +H lager 5 ghaleliaioony je mot 2 9 —pEa) ae (Bea) prea l CE teow Veer eave) o(e+ +x, +0) Now using the expression forthe frequency: £* = (p*+4?) = 0? ‘This yields the Hamiltonian and the energy momentum four-vector of our quantum field theory in terms of these ‘operators. The Hamiltonian is brought to the diagonal form a ipa’, Be LESe, (aja, +a,a" FI Gehr Eva, +40) Energy ofthe vacuum state and Renormalistion: In complete anelogy we begin again with the postulate of vacuum state |0) with norm one, which is annihilated bythe action ofthe operator a, { (lo) = 1, a(p)|0) = 0 for vp Let us next evaluate the energy of this vacuum state, by taking the expectation value of the Hamiltonian, B= (OMO)= IEF Beer (oojay|0)+(olaeh fo}, ‘The fist er in curly brackets vanishes, since a aniiltes the vacuum (Olasa,|o) = 0 ‘The second can be rwrinen as 4,05)0) = [2,.0} ]]0)+a}a,|0) = (22)'5(0)]0) = => infi'te enerad BAciL “sod nF E, = (0|f|0)= Of # PEP) = 750] 0 plo ta? = © ‘hich means that the energy of the ground state is infinite! This result seems rather paradoxical, but it can be understood again in terms of the harmonic oscillator. Recall that the simple quantum mechanical oscillator has a finite zero-point energy. As we have seen above, our field theory corresponds to an infinite collection of harmonic oscillators, ie the vacuum receives an infinite number of zero point contribution, and its energy thus diverges. lp dp 5 , 3 He 2fSP eey(aha, +22) £980 aa “(p)(a3a, +(x) E(p)5*(0)) In fact there are two different co's lurking in the expression. The first arises because space is infinitely large. (Infinities ofthis type are often referred to as infra-red divergences although in this case the 2 is so simple that it barely deserves this name). To extract out this infinity, let's consider putting the theory in a box with sides of length LL. We impose periodic boundary conditions on the field. Then, taking the limit where L—» «, for the inverse — : oe : Lapa” ] + apap” apap faye J+ i6 a : . ‘ aoe 28 ae oS J + a2 aats 16 tac™ante) = Lin fase], = um fais =v where is the volume of the box. So the 6(0) divergence arises because we're computing the total energy, rather than the energy density ge. To find e) we can simply divide by the volume, geal ie 73/4 Pew which is still infinite, We recognize it as the sum of ground state energies foreach harmonic oscillator. But &, 20 dew the || rc limit ofthe ieteyral. This is high frequency — or shor distance — infinity known as an ultra violet divergence. The total zero-point energy ofall te cillatrs per unit volume Sais a If we integrate over the whole range of p, the value 7 £, is infinite, This divergence arises because we've assumed that our theory is valid to arbitrarily short distance scales, corresponding to arbitrarily high energies. This is clearly absurd. The integral should be cut-off at high momentum in order to reflect the fact that our theory is likely to break If we integrate only up to a maximum value of A, a number known as the ultraviolet cutoff, we Co At = fare = AS 22m) [f7EW) = ie 30 ete op where we have assumed A >> 1 (or m). This is physically justified if, in the real world, the formalism of quantum 204 field theory breaks down at some large eneray cal. 4°? ecpyat e H= [—*E(p)aja, +(¢,-2,)¥ imp f Japp eePrsia, +(64-24) co! Woe now, we simply not that he valu of £2 i airy, and 3 we ae fe to choose 8, = 6. With his eos, i re the ground state has energy eigenvalue zero. Now, if we like, we can take the limit A—+ oo, with no further ef" consequences.Thus can deal with the infinity in a more practical way. In physics we're only interested in energy mo differences. There's no way to measure E» directly, so we can simply redefine the Hamiltonian by subtracting off thin, a [Se SF Elma, so that, with this new definition, #0) = By choosing commutators rather then anticommutators, we have re-derived the hamiltonian of free relativistic bosons by quantization of a scalar field whose equation of motion is the Klein-Gordon equation. The parameter in the lagrangian is now seen to be the mass of the particle in the quantum theory. More precisely, since 4 has dimensions of inverse length, the particle mass is 4s = hem). Next, we would like to add Lorentz-invariant interactions to our theory. With the formalism we have developed, this is easy to do. Any local functionof (x) is a Lorentz scalar, and so if we add a term like @” or 6" to the lagrangian density , the resulting action will still be Lorentz invariant, Now, however, we will have interactions among the particles. Infact, the difference between this Hamiltonian and the previous one is merely an ordering ambiguity in roving em hela thy othe quant hey For example, the Haitian ofthe hi ari Ai(ar) = He" +0) Ate elnnetedd ey eneeiesiicn erate openan ecole ta sikenen, avoid P of © terms it cil give infhityjo right all tbe anbi lation operator? te yo left A225 (a2) -af If we defined the Hamiltonian 1(g,p) = 4(e9-)(09+) which is clasiallythe same as our orginal choice, then upon quantization it would naturally give Aap) = 988 ‘This typeof ordering ambiguity arises alot in eld theories. We'll Some across a number of ways of dealing with it The method that we've used above is called normal ordering’This fist of frequent occurrences of infinite in lunntum field theory snot foo hard to workaround, Firstly, we note tha nowhere nature can we observe absolute Salus of energy, ll we ean measure are energy differences relative to some reference scale, at best the one ofthe ‘vacuum state [0) | In this case it does not really matter what the energy of the vacuum is, This then allows us to redefine the energy scale, by always subtracting the (infrite) vacuum energy from any energy we compute. This called “enormaistion”. We then define the renormalised vacuum energy tobe 2er, and take ito be the Expedition valve oferenormalised Hamiltonian Definition: We write the normal ordered string of operators 4(% Joh (%,) 8 A(X Jonny) Itis defined tobe the usual product with all annihilation operators placed to the right. 5 . + + rs 2 (4p4p1 App }+ pap i.e. the normal-ordered operators are enclosed within eee Let Fea, +a): = aha = Ay So, the fee Scalar Feld Hamiltonian, we could write IGP cravete, snot): w (PsRiplat pL Bcpnela,+aja,): = fF Epraja, al aay Bech tne = Say BUR as the usual product, but with all the creation operators on the left and all the annihilation operators on the right. Since creation operators commute with one another, as do annihilation operators, this uniquely specifies the ordering. So instead of H, we can use :H: and the infinite energy of the ground state goes away: In the remainder of this section, we will normal order all operators inthis manner. a ‘The Casimir Effect: Using the normal ordering prescription we can set Ep = 0, while only energy differences can be measured. But we should be careful, for there is @ situation whete differences in the energy of vacuum fluctuations themselves can be ‘measured, To regulate the infra-red divergences, we'll make the x; direction periodic, with size L, and impose periodic boundary conditions such that Hx) = MxtLn) with m= (10,0). ‘We'll leave y and z alone, but remember that we should compute all physical quantities per unit area A. We insert two reflecting plates, separated by a distance d «: Lin the x' direction. The plates are such that they impose @(x) = 0 atthe position of the plates, The presence of these plates affects the Fourier decomposition of the field and, in particular, means that the momentum of the field inside the plates is quantized as energg densitg 5= (Sa) "seers eet ase Eb ayy) a Wey Sarthe er tile th eneray outside the plates is EUL~ The otal energy i therefore E = Bld)+E(L—d) 26‘which ~ atleast naively ~ depends on df this naive gues is tre, it would mean that ther is a force onthe plates due to the Muctuations ofthe vacuum. This isthe Casimir force, fist predicted in 1948 and observed 10 years later. In the real world, the effect is due to the vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field, with the boundary conditions imposed by conducting plates. Here we model this effect with a scalar. But there's a problem. E is infinite! What to do? The problem comes from the arbitrarily high momentum modes. We could regulate this in a number of different ways. Mathematically, we want to find a way to neglect modes of momentum > a’ for some distance scale a: d , known as the ultra-violet (UV) cut-off, One way to do ths is to change the integral to, (any 2V a which is finite and has the property a —> Owe regain the ful, infinite, expression. It's a lot simpler if we look at the problem in one dimension, d = 1 +1 dimensions, rather than d= 3 + 1 dimensions. We'll find that all the same physics is at play. Now the energy is given by £(d) > Smee his one an from aiff Be ‘GaWe can now compute the full energy: E,,, = E,,,(d)+£,4(d-L) = E Sah 1 fees, % geometviza | peries aur }. ov) ‘This is sil infinite inthe limit a+ 0, which tobe expected. However, the fore is given by i on a x Su oS) | Es, (a 090, Loe ad AG a mee the force between the plates remains finite. This is the Casimir force. If we go through the analogous calculation in d=3+1 dimensions, and Performe the integral, ‘we would find the result 12k ‘Aad ~ $80d" “The true Casimir force is twice as large as this, due tothe two polarization states of the photon. At this point i's ‘worth stepping back and thinking about what we have done. The classical theory of a scalar field that we wrote down has nothing to do with particles; it simply had as solutions to its equations of motion travelling waves satisfying the energy-momentum relation of a particle of mass u. The canonical commutation relations we imposed ‘on the fields ensured that the Heisenberg equation of motion for the operators in the quantum theory reproduced the classical equations of motion, thus building the correspondence principle into the theory. However, these commutation relations also ensured that the Hamiltonian had a discrete particle spectrum. From the energy- ‘momentum relation we saw that the parameter jin the Lagrangian corresponded to the mass of the particle. Hence, ‘quantizing the classical field theory immediately forced upon us a particle interpretation of the field: these are ‘generally referred to as the quanta of the field. For the scalar field, these are spinless bosons (such as pions, kaons, ‘or the Higgs boson of the Standard Model). As we will see later on, the quanta of the electromagnetic (vector) field are photons.Fermions like the electron are the quanta of the corresponding fermi field. In this case however, there is rot such a simple correspondence to a classical field: the Pauli exclusion principle means that you cant make a ‘coherent state of fermions, so there is no classical equivalent of an electron field. At this stage, the field operator (2) may still seem a bit abstract - an operator-valued function of space-time from which observables are built. To ‘eta better feeling fori, let us consider the interpretation of the state #(0,) = ¢{%,0) From the field expansion we have 45,0) = ae gate OF aor Fee eget)qyomerteirs SC ar heeea 2, = ([— 7 P__, +! at}0) = we #2, 0))0) = larvae 250) Seay Ba ay Si |e) ‘Thus, when the field operator acts on the vacuum, i pops outa linear combination of momentum eigenstates, (Think ‘ofthe Field operator as a hammer which hits the vacuum and shakes quanta out of i) Taking the inner product of j this state with a momentum eigenstate |p), we find (rea.0)0) = [22e* (pp) = Gy Recalling the nonrelativistic relation between momentum and position eigenstates, (| ve sce that we can interpret 4,0) as an operator which, acting on the vacuum, creates a particle at position Since it contains both creation and annihilation operators, when it acts on particle state it has an amplitude to produce both +1 and nt particle states. aving dealt with the vacuum, we can now tur to the excitations of the field. It's Eigenstates and Eigen values : easy to verify that I< LE 1etp9eh2, a) = pee or " E(p a a, 0 SEE Fle reh 27GB) = FP, thayl= [22 te¢p 99} 4),04) = EP Ie}. an oe 7 ECP le 2p ay (ia) = [EE HPI) an 87 Prey = Epa, [Hat] = eer} = a0}, [Ha] = -E(p, = 0,0, which means that, just as for the harmonic oscillator, we can construct energy eigenstates by acting on the vacuum Jo) witha} .Let |) = a} a) ta.\p) d’p' a This state has energy: : :|B) - (ge : E(p'a}.a,.|) Gap EP abaya 0) [a,.4}] = GaP 5G" A) :H:[p) = ge od ) 5('- PE(p')a},|0) = E(p)a}|0) = £(p)| A) HIB) = @|P) = E12) with oy) = pia? But we recognize this as the relativistic dispersion relation fora particle of mass w and 3-momentum, E(p) = Vie +a ‘We interpret the state |) as the momentum eigenstate of a single particle of mass . To stress this, from now on we'll write E, everywhere instead of w,, Let's check this particle interpretation by studying the other quantum ‘numbers of |) . We may take the classical total momentum P given in and turn it into an operator P= [a’xpd'g = -fd’xa V9 Lae Cagrap?, of J « aay, ce 1+ Cops bee aaprap! 1) « (aprLap's ai ] : are }f6) ° » a {03,09 le) 2 (qid-2 )ersde"] eo» 1 ffs 469 = oar let Vein) = 1 f_@?_tipase™ -ipale™ By Leet Or] os -i_ fp, Eo tye we = len EP ae -aye""] J ax] at p'ae [ape oh ‘| se] Pee 1 2@x)° fap p Hapa ™ satele OP! aja ao a,etth!y Pr pate = OEE lay ota) | P:|p)= [£2 renrow- B)a},|0) = pa}|0) = |p) ‘Acting on our state |) with P, we leam that itis indeed an eigenstate: P|) = | elling us thatthe state |?) has momentum . Observing thatthe normal ordering did is job and we obtain renormalised, finite results, we may imterpret the state |f). It is @ one-particle state for a relativistic particle of mass and momentum acting on it with the energy-momentum operator retums the relativistic one particle energy-mometum dispersion relation, E(p) = yfpf' +42 « a}, a, are creation and annihilation operators for particles of momentum In analogy to the harmonic oscillator, the procedure can be continued to higher states. One easily checks that Peale} |0): = (pt + pt)a}, 2}, |0) [PoA) pith lo) a two-particle stat the factorial is there to have it normalised in the same way as the one-particle state), and soon for higher Fock states.A single particle state is obtained by operating the creation operator onthe vacuum, ,'|0) = |) Then (FP) = (Olay, 0) = (0l[a,.a,"]]0) = 2x5" G- 79 Manypartcle states are defined by: |.) = a, 0) where the bosonie statstis of the particles is assured by the commutation relations. Associated with these field operators, one can define te total panicle number operator 239oe Lear" ‘Another property of |) that we can study is its angular momentum. Once again, we may take the classical ‘expression forthe total angular momentum of the field and tur it into an operator Som Ma (7' where (77 = TT t's not hard to show that acting on the one-particle state with zero momentum, sip-9 <0 = Show is which we interpret as telling us thatthe particle caries no internal angular momentum. In other words, quantizing a scalar field gives rise to a spin 0 particle. ‘Non-relativistic Mulfi-Particle States: This is an informative exercise, since the corresponding physics is already familiar. Let us carry it out. Begin with the position-basis Schrodinger equation for m particles, all with the same mass m, moving in an extemal potential UG), and interacting with each other via an interparticle potential V (x1 ~ ay of -[Saovi-ons) Broly fe ene reviten inthe abstract form of by first introducing in, for now, the Schrodinger picture a quantum field a() and its hermitian conjugate a’ (%). We take these operators to have the commutation relations [a@),a"@9] = 8-29, [acz),a0@9] = 0 = [a'(,0'@] where 5°(%) is the three-dimensional Dirac delta function, Thus, a’(z) and a(#) behave like harmonic~ creation and annihilation operators that are labeled by a continuous index. In terms of them, we introduce the hamiltonian operator of our quantum field theory, Ho» fax ( oy sues) oeys fae ye a! (B)al atFaGi) (a) [Now considera time-dependent state of the form o—— agtlaprag ] |e > [wid) = Jax d? x,y Oy F300" )a"(,)10) where Yi, .-..8,30) is some function of the m particle positions and time, and |0) isthe vacuum state, the state that is annihilated by ll the o's, alo) It is now straightforward (though tedious o verify that the abstract SchrBdinger equation, is obeyed if and only if the fuanetony satisfies int (3 a” [st ‘Thus we can interpret the state |0) as a state of “no particles”, the state a’(3,)|0) as a state with one particle at 5, and another at postion ¥,, and so £o;-ue)}-S$76;-xy © position ¥. the state a°(3)a"(i,)|0) as a state with one particle at pos ‘on. The operator N = [a'xo'a(@) ‘counts the total number of particles. It commutes with the Hamiltonian, asi easily checked; thus, if we start with a State of m particles, we remain with a state of » particles at all times However, we can imagine generalizations of this version of the theory (generalizations that would not be possible without the field formalism) in which the ‘numberof particles is not conserved. For example, we could try adding to H aterm like Number operator i9 240 concerved [un] +o ShooaH Ja'x[a'Ga?G)+he] ‘This term does not commute with N, and so the numberof particles would not be conserved with this addition to ‘Theories in which the numberof particles can change as time evolves are good thing they are needed for correct phenomenology. We ae already fuiliar with the notion that atoms ean emit and absorb photons, and so we had better havea formalism that can incorporate this phenomenon. We ae less familar with emission and absorption (Chat isto sy, creation and annihilation) of electrons, but this process also occurs in nature; iis less common ‘because it must be accompanied by the emission or absorption of a positron, antiparticle to the electron. There are nota lt of positrons around to facilitate electron aniilation, while e°e” par creation requires us to have on hand atleast 2mc! of eneray available fr the restmass energy ofthese two particles. ‘The photon on the other hand, is its own anipartce, and has zero rest mass thus photons are casiy and copiously produced and destroyed: Ther is another important aspect ofthe quantum theory specified by Hamiltonian and time ‘ependent state equations (a) and (2). Because the cestion operators commute wih each other, only the completely symmetric part of y survives the integration in time dependent state equation. Therefore, without loss of generality, ‘we can reset our attention o's ofthis ype WRK 5) = + WOK Kost) ‘This means that we have a theory of bosons, particles that like photons or pions of alpha nuclei obey Bose-Einstein For Fermions only the filly antisymmetric part of y survives the integration in time dependent state |Win) = fax nd xy, ,3,300"G)-2" )]0) and so we can restrict our attention to WR Kail) = WORK ait) Thus we have a theory of fermions. It is straightforward to check that the abstract Schrodinger equation, stil implies that y obeys the differential equation. Charged Scalar Field: Take a scalar field y whose dynamics is defined by the real Lagrangian ® is two dimensional with basis 4 and 6*. A generalization of the analysis above to the complex scalar field leads to the Lagrangian, 1 1 gu ta yatpal ite 22 Oy sey 1 seg etait Fay) ap a nen eee, where the second equation is the complex conjugate of the first. This can be interpreted as the superposition of two. independent scalar fields v = Flare) where, for each (real) component ¢,"(x) = 4(x) we get the factor of 1/2 coming from i 2's. We expand the complex field operator as @ sum of plane waves as veabl a je] v= yl Zeloerne] (rs) Since the classical field y is not real, the corresponding quantum field y is not Hermitian. This is the reason that we have different operators 6 and c’ appearing in the positive and negative frequency parts. The classical field ‘momentum is aL and 241We also tur this into a quantum operator field which we write as, eats [een —2e"] [ep lBtvm i) errs ‘The commutation relations between fields and momenta are given it [v@.-0)] = 8 @-D, . [Yr] = [v@.vGr] = 0 [v@v'@] = 0 together with others related by complex conjugation, as well asthe usual.One can easily check that these field ‘commutation relations are equivalent to the commutation relations for the operators =[4, Men D. [6,.0)] = Qnys(p-|) a (oal=Da}e[oa]=[ond]=0 Phew toe Cee Feira zs re sate me + [Paper pbc" [Baye Hpbfe] +120} Pe" Jaye be" J) - Sra eee +P +H) pa, +b,8;)0(5-PY]*[(-E,e, - a = abe Klos 9B es caste) +9" +0" et; 46 )) #H ale" +16 bye" [18 0,0" iE be] B+H Yad) +ayby (+BY) ; + [LB e,e, 609 -E,b,b, = [<“e,[,,8)] = fa’ p,8(0)[6,,6,] > J Lioehts « (LEE, (oth] = fee 8055] Ge ee ee ee scabs cpomc = male dana crcceane secs " - See Esl ahay +b)ty) f [ie] = fan ill +hone] = [LEE Leta] [4.4] = a ,(-a)(2n) '-9) = ~E,a, i 7 a’ a it [4.9] = la E, Lela, 816,205] = [Feet [20h] [#45] = eee v(aj2x)'3(B-A) = Ea, 242a’ 9 7 a (won) faa otron] fps) [4.8] = IZ sree (-b(2nY OBB) = -E,b, (nek) = feels ana] ~ FSD] [4.95] = gs T-,(b}(2n75°(B-a) = Eb} - Ep Suppose |) #0 is an cigenstate of H. Then H|E) = E|£) [ Hap 1+ - Ep OP Hay|E) =(a,H ~Eya,)|E) Hap apn * = 6% Hap » Opt - Fear Similarly 7 Hby|e) = (£-£,)0le)- Maple) * Bgit- £ap)) ©) ‘Hb, = (E+£,)b}|£) se) = (+e, 812) ase Sen me {In summary, quantizing a complex scalar field gives rise to two creation operators, a, and Bf and fwo annihilation operators a, and b,.Two creation operators, aj and B{ These have the interpretation of creating two types of panicle, both of mass and both spin ero. They are interpreted as paticles and ant-paricls. n contrat, for a rel scalar field thee is ony a single type of particle: for areal scalar field the particle is ts own antipartce. There is lowest eneray state [0) called vacuum state such that, 4,|0) =0, 2/0) = 0 here we have 3510) = Ey. BIO) = & jaa) = aio R particles with a i 1 4 aw Normalization : (10) this ip a lable for same mane 8 Fri” (Brel ad) = (Fea cele i [aya}] = Ony°G-a * particle (a® panicle : (P'alp.a) = Olaja, +(2n)'6"(p- BIO) Wich ia the (P1a|p.a) = QaYo"(b- P00) = 2ay’s'(B- PY particle a antiparticle Similarly (3',6|B,6) = (2)'5*(P- P')(0|0) = (2xYS'(B- (Bal p.8) = 0 fem General state with quanta of type a and m quanta of type b om Iv) = ah ah ,0f..bf |o) Hay) = Hoy (a, 84 Bh 0) = ((Hoay 1+ a (2, 84-2, 0) Hy) = U4.ah 0)+ah, (a), a, .6,..2}, Jo) ly) = Eyah0) +a, (1.0, 1, H)( Heh, 21,0) Htly) = Ena} 0) +a £,,a},|0)+a, a, (Ha, 0}, 65.0%, )/0) 243ee lee e » @xYecprqy) wna this te have ae'db [aha eo byapocrsr ) ox 408 ber ocpep') ~ byt bee sep-P') ST Hl) = (Eq +B +B, +B, +B +E IY) P|P) = BlP) Plu) = (B+ Pitot By +a +a +t Ga)¥) “The number operators ae given by ae ‘a iN: = [FP aja, , Mss [SP a, nin [ahaa Leho and the total number operator is given by FE lea, 8, ]= mm, P\p) = Bla) while the energy-momentum operator is defined by am LQay Recall that the theory as a classical conserved charge = fPxW'y-VW = fPxay-v'r) Pape p'{[2's07 ~be" Jape" 48h0°*] 22m |+[apew*+b,e%* [aje™ -Hje™] (ae, J P " 1 5( 5-3) ja o-- [SEF (ap -85 619-F} = Loahee4t-2'2)]) ter oma raring. ts bones ura epee O: = LSE, ~ aaj] = M-N, « so Q counts the number of anti-particles (created by b') minus the number of particles (created by a’). From this result we can interpret the particles as carrying an elecic charge, equal in magnitude, and opposite in sign. The complex scalar field is a theory of charged particles. The negative density that plagued the Klein-Gordon field is simply a manifestation of particles with negative charge. 2030) = jes [Hb0s-etad lo) | tse) = | 24 (onanas ees ala 81-80) [6.05 2x 5'(p-G) J4'a8h|)8°@-A = +18510) in = FSp00he eae Osho) = FEB tosh hemes -alepat-eae)) [ os3)0) = - J arealoys%p-a = -ta}lo} i / 4a and b create particles of same mass but equal and opposite charges. The one is an antiparticle of the other and vice versa, We have [alee = byap + Ap bp > bp he ). a (any os f | ral waz ay - om: ))} /1p ol Pre ata ebb) 1b, -al ta) = 3h = [Es(@}a, +by8}.00}, ~03a,)) yt EAM Mla}saylayap, + aay,a} Jay) +B,10).b, 18, +[0,.05 136, } [aaj] = @ay's'(-a. [6,.0]] = On rG-@) HO) = 5) EME yah oh, 8) +085) = 2 ensuring that Q is conserved quantity in the quantum theory. However, we'll soon see that in interacting theories Q survives as a conserved quantity, while Nand N, individually do not, Spree llenapl-teI} = 0 245