36 Chapter 3 The Dirac Field As an example, consider the Klein-Gordon theory. We can write an arbi- trary Lorentz transformation as at a! = M2”, (3.1) for some 4 x 4 matrix A. What happens to the Klein-Gordon field ¢(«) under this transformation? Think of the field ¢ as measuring the local value of some quantity that is distributed through space. If there is an accumulation of this quantity at 2 = x9, 4(x) will have a maximum at zg. If we now transform the original distribution by a boost, the new distribution will have a maximum at x = Ago. This is illustrated in Fig. 3.1(a). The corresponding transformation of the field is (x) > G(x) = o(A"2). (3.2) That is, the transformed field, evaluated at the boosted point, gives the same value as the original field evaluated at the point before boosting. We should check that this transformation leaves the form of the Klein- Gordon Lagrangian unchanged. According to (3.2), the mass term }m?¢?(:r) is simply shifted to the point (A‘z). The transformation of 0,,¢(x) is O,0(2) + O,(6(A*2)) = (A*)",(8,6)(A*2). (3.3) Since the metric tensor g“” is Lorentz invariant, the matrices A? obey the identity (ANY (AY gh = gf. (3.4) Using this relation, we can compute the transformation law of the kinetic term of the Klein-Gordon Lagrangian: (Q.0(2))? > gt” (8u6'(#)) (8.4 («)) = gf” ((A)",Gp4] [8% 0e4](A72) = 9°" (850) (o9)(A*x) = (0,.6)°(A 2). Thus, the whole Lagrangian is simply transformed as a scalar: L(x) + L(A). (3.5) The action S, formed by integrating £ over spacetime, is Lorentz invariant. A similar calculation shows that the equation of motion is invariant: (P +m?) 6'(a) = [(A)%,0,(A 1) Ie + m?] @(A Ta) = (9"7,0, +m?)o(A tx) =0. The transformation law (3.2) used for ¢ is the simplest possible transfor- mation law for a field. It is the only possibility for a field that has just one component. But we know examples of multiple-component fields that trans- form in more complicated ways. The most familiar case is that, of a vector field,