Expressing The Dirac Equation
In natural units, the Dirac equation may be written as
where ψ is a Dirac spinor. Here, if were an ordinary 4-vector, then it would pick out a preferred direction in spacetime, and the Dirac equation would not be Lorentz invariant.
Switching to Feynman notation, the Dirac equation is
Applying to both sides yields
which is the Klein–Gordon equation. Thus, as the notation suggests, the Dirac particle has mass m.
Read more about this topic: Gamma Matrices
Famous quotes containing the words expressing the, expressing and/or equation:
“I have often felt as though I had inherited all the defiance and all the passions with which our ancestors defended their Temple and could gladly sacrifice my life for one great moment in history. And at the same time I always felt so helpless and incapable of expressing these ardent passions even by a word or a poem.”
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
“We sometimes think we dislike flattery, when we only dislike the manner of expressing it.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“A nation fights well in proportion to the amount of men and materials it has. And the other equation is that the individual soldier in that army is a more effective soldier the poorer his standard of living has been in the past.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)