- #1
nacadaryo
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I'm reading the Wikipedia page for the Dirac equation
I am not sure how one gets a new [itex]\rho[/itex] and [itex]J^\mu[/itex]. How does one do to derive these two? And can anyone show me why the expression for density not positive definite?
[itex]\rho=\phi^*\phi\,[/itex]
...
[itex]J = -\frac{i\hbar}{2m}(\phi^*\nabla\phi - \phi\nabla\phi^*)[/itex]
with the conservation of probability current and density following from the Schrödinger equation:
[itex]\nabla\cdot J + \frac{\partial\rho}{\partial t} = 0.[/itex]
The fact that the density is positive definite and convected according to this continuity equation, implies that we may integrate the density over a certain domain and set the total to 1, and this condition will be maintained by the conservation law. A proper relativistic theory with a probability density current must also share this feature. Now, if we wish to maintain the notion of a convected density, then we must generalize the Schrödinger expression of the density and current so that the space and time derivatives again enter symmetrically in relation to the scalar wave function. We are allowed to keep the Schrödinger expression for the current, but must replace by probability density by the symmetrically formed expression
[itex]\rho = \frac{i\hbar}{2m}(\psi^*\partial_t\psi - \psi\partial_t\psi^*).[/itex]
which now becomes the 4th component of a space-time vector, and the entire 4-current density has the relativistically covariant expression
[itex]J^\mu = \frac{i\hbar}{2m}(\psi^*\partial^\mu\psi - \psi\partial^\mu\psi^*)[/itex]
The continuity equation is as before. Everything is compatible with relativity now, but we see immediately that the expression for the density is no longer positive definite - the initial values of both ψ and [itex]∂_t ψ[/itex] may be freely chosen, and the density may thus become negative, something that is impossible for a legitimate probability density. Thus we cannot get a simple generalization of the Schrödinger equation under the naive assumption that the wave function is a relativistic scalar, and the equation it satisfies, second order in time.
I am not sure how one gets a new [itex]\rho[/itex] and [itex]J^\mu[/itex]. How does one do to derive these two? And can anyone show me why the expression for density not positive definite?