What Force Did Dirac Envision for Negative Energy States in His Theory?

[planetology]

In every situation I'm aware of, energy states exist because of some force that gives rise to them (dE/dx, y'know). What force did Dirac envision as giving rise to his proposed negative energy states (from which antimatter arises)? When I see it described in textbooks, the states are shown as being in increments of m₀c². If it were electromagnetic or some such, it seems to me this numerical result would not necessarily hold.
I suppose I could try reading his paper. Is it available in any of the online archives?

 

[Evalesco]

Yes, Dirac's paper is available online. In it, he proposed that the force that gives rise to energy states is the same as the one that gives rise to the positive energy states, but with the opposite sign. This implies that the force could be electromagnetic in nature. However, the numerical result for the negative energy states need not necessarily hold as it depends on the specific details of the system being considered.

 

[denian]

Dirac's negative energy sea theory was proposed in 1928 as a way to reconcile the equations of quantum mechanics with special relativity. At the time, it was believed that all particles had positive energy, but Dirac's equations predicted the existence of particles with negative energy. To explain this, Dirac proposed that the vacuum is filled with an infinite sea of negative energy particles, which he called "holes" or "antiparticles." These holes would have the opposite charge and spin of their corresponding particles.

Dirac envisioned that the force giving rise to these negative energy states was the electromagnetic force. This was based on his observation that his equations could be interpreted as describing an electron moving in a magnetic field. This led him to propose that the negative energy states were actually the result of the electron being in a state of constant acceleration, which would produce a magnetic field. However, this explanation was later found to be incorrect.

In terms of the numerical result of m0c2, this is a result of the Dirac equation and is related to the rest mass of the particle. It is not a direct result of the force giving rise to the negative energy states. The numerical value may vary depending on the specific conditions and forces in play, but the concept of negative energy states remains the same.

Dirac's original paper, "The Quantum Theory of the Electron," is available online through various archives. It is a seminal work in the field of quantum mechanics and is definitely worth reading for a deeper understanding of the theory.