arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Dan Solomon.
We find three exact solutions to the Klein-Gordon equation in 1-1 dimensional space-time for different time dependent potentials. In two cases we consider a time dependent scalar potential and in one case a time dependent electric potential.
In Dirac's hole theory (HT) the vacuum state is generally believed to be the state of minimum energy due to the assumption that the Pauli Exclusion Principle prevents the decay of positive energy electrons into occupied negative energy states. However recently papers have appeared that claim to show that there exist states with less energy than that of the vacuum[4][5][6]. Here we will consider a simple model of HT consisting of zero mass electrons in 1-1D space-time. It will be shown that for this model there are states with less energy than the HT vacuum state and that the Pauli Principle is obeyed. Therefore the conjecture that the Pauli Principle prevents the existence of states with less energy than the vacuum state is not correct.
We find an exact solution to the Dirac equation in 1-1 dimensional space-time in the presence of a time-dependent potential which consists of a combination of electric, scalar, and pseudoscalar terms.
In quantum field theory, it is generally assumed that there is a lower bound to the energy, which is normally assumed to the the vacuum state. While this may be a reasonable assumption for a free field it is not necessarily the case for interacting fields. In this paper I will examine a "toy" model of a neutral scalar field interacting with a charged scalar field and show that there is no lower bound to the energy in this case.
In quantum field theory it is generally known that the energy density may be negative at a given point in spacetime. A number of papers have shown that there is a restriction on this energy density which is called a quantum inequality (QI). A QI is the lower bound to the "weighted average" of the energy density at a given point integrated over a time dependent sampling function. In this paper we give an example of a sampling function for which there is no QI.
Point splitting has been suggested as a way to deal with anomalous commutators in quantum field theory. It has been pointed out by D.G. Boulware[4] that in order to obtain a mathematically consistent theory the Hamiltonian operator must be point split also. We will examine the effect of point splitting the Hamiltonian for a free fermion field in 1-1D space-time. It will be shown that when the Hamiltonian operator is point split then quantum states will exist with less energy than the normal vacuum state. This requires the vacuum state to be redefined.
In quantum theory it is generally assumed that there exists a special state called the vacuum state and that this state is a lower bound to the energy. However it has recently been demonstrated that this is not necessarily the case for some situations [5]. In order to clarify the situation we will consider a "very simple" field theory in the Heisenberg picture consisting of a quanitized fermion field with zero mass pariticles in 1-1D space-time interacting with a classical electrical potential. It will be shown that for this example there is no lower bound to the energy.
In has been recently shown [1] that in Dirac's hole theory the vacuum state is not the minimum energy state but that there exist quantum states with less energy than that of the vacuum state. In this paper we extend this discussion to quantum field theory (QFT) and consider the question of whether or not the vacuum in QFT is the state of minimum energy. It will be shown that for a "simple" field theory, consisting of a quantized fermion field interacting with a classical electric field in 1-1D space-time, there exist quauntum states with less energy than that of the vacuum state.
It is generally assumed that quantum field theory (QFT) is gauge invariant. However it is well known that non-gauge invariant terms appear in various calculations. This problem was recently examined in [9] for a "simple" field theory and it was shown that for this case QFT in the Schroedinger picture is not, in fact, gauge invariant. In order to shed further light on this problem we will examine the Heisenberg and Schroedinger formulations of QFT. It is generally assumed that these two "pictures" are equivalent; however we will show that this is not necessarily the case. We shall consider a simple field theory consisting of a quantized fermion field in the presence of a classical electromagnetic field. We will show that, although the two pictures are formally equivalent, the Heisenberg picture is gauge invariant but that the Schroedinger picture is not. This suggests that the proper way to formulate QFT is to use the Heisenberg picture.
Quantum field theory is assumed to be gauge invariant. However it is well known that when certain quantities, such as the vacuum current, are calculated the results are not gauge invariant. The non-gauge invariant terms have to be removed in order to obtain a physically correct result. It has been shown in Ref. [3] and [4] that this problem may be due to a mathematical inconsistency in the canonical formulation of QFT. In this article we will review this previous work and then examine an alternative formulation of QFT called the functional Schroedinger approach. It will be shown that this approach produces different results then the canonical formulation. In particular it will be shown that in the functional Schroedinger approach the vacuum current is gauge invariant.
It is generally assumed that quantum field theory (QFT) is gauge invariant. However it is well known that non-gauge invariant terms appear in various calculations. This problem was examined in Refs. [3] and [4] and it was shown that at the formal level QFT in the Schroedinger picture is not, in fact, gauge invariant. It was determined that this problem was due to a mathematical inconsistency related to the way the vacuum state is defined. In order to shed further light on this problem we consider a simple field theory in 1-1D space-time consisting of a quantized fermion field with zero mass in the presence of a classical electromagnetic potential. It can easily be shown that for this situation the equations of motion can be solved exactly in both the Heisenberg and Schroedinger pictures. This allows us to easily identify the source of the mathematical inconsistency that appears in QFT.
Quantum field theory is assumed to be gauge invariant. However it is well known that when certain quantities are calculated using perturbation theory the results are not gauge invariant. The non-gauge invariant terms have to be removed in order to obtain a physically correct result. In this paper we will examine this problem and determine why a theory that is supposed to be gauge invariant produces non-gauge invariant results.
In quantum field theory it is generally assumed that there is a lower bound to the energy of a quantum state. Here, it will be shown that there is no lower bound to the energy of physical states in QED in a manifestly covariant gauge.
A common assumption in quantum field theory is that the energy-momentum 4-vector of any quantum state must be time-like. However it has been recently shown [4] that this is not the case for a Dirac-Maxwell field in the coulomb gauge. Here we will present a proof that is simpler then the proof of Ref. [4] that there must exist quantum states which are space-like for a Dirac-Maxwell field in the coulomb gauge.
In Dirac's hole theory the vacuum state is generally believed to be the state of minimum energy. However it has recently been shown that this is not the case. In [1] it was shown that energy can be extracted from the hole theory vacuum state through the application of an electric field so that the final state has less energy than the vacuum state. In this paper we will confirm the results of [1] by calculating the change in the energy of the vacuum state due to its interaction with a specific electric field. It will be shown that the final state has less energy than the original vacuum state.
It is generally assumed that the vacuum state is the quantum state with the lowest energy. However, it has been shown that this is not the case for a Dirac-Maxwell field in the temporal gauge. In this paper we will present another proof, different from that presented in previous work, which shows that the vacuum state is not the minimum energy state for a Dirac-Maxwell field in the temporal gauge.
A common assumption in quantum field theory is that the energy-momentum 4-vector of any quantum state must be time-like. It will be proven that this is not the case for a Dirac-Maxwell field. In this case quantum states can be shown to exist whose energy-momentum is space-like.
In Dirac's hole theory the vacuum state is generally believed to be the state of minimum energy. It will be shown that this is not, in fact, the case and that there must exist states in hole theory with less energy than the vacuum state. It will be shown that energy can be extracted from the hole theory vacuum state through the application of an electric field.