PHYSICS 522

HOMEWORK #5

MATT HICKMAN

Problem 1.
We are to show that (γ 5 )2 = I and γ µ γ 5 = −γ 5 γ µ . We start with the definition of γ 5 :
 
0 0 1 0  
0 0 0 1
γ 5 = iγ 0 γ 1 γ 2 γ 3 =   = 0 I2
1 0 0 0 I2 0
0 1 0 0

    
5 5 0 I2 0 I2 I2 0
⇒γ γ = = =I
I2 0 I2 0 0 I2

For the second identity we use the Dirac basis for the gamma matrices, which can be written in
terms of the Pauli matrices:
σi
     
0 I2 0 i 0 5 0 I2
γ = , γ = , γ =
0 −I2 −σ i 0 I2 0

This is all we need to verify {γ µ , γ 5 } = 0. Doing it first for γ 0 we have:

    
0 5 I2 0 0 I2 0 I2
γ γ = =
0 −I2 I2 0 −I2 0

    
5 0 0 I2 I2 0 0 −I2
γ γ = = = −γ 0 γ 5
I2 0 0 −I2 I2 0
Now doing it for the spatial indices

σi
    i 
i 5 0 0 I2 σ 0
γγ = =
−σ i 0 I2 0 0 −σ i

σi
    i 
5 i 0 I2 0 −σ 0
γ γ = i = = −γ i γ 5
I2 0 −σ 0 0 σi

∴ γ µ γ 5 = −γ 5 γ µ

Date: March 23, 2011.

1
 Problem 2
We want to show that ψ̄ψ and ψ̄γ µ ψ are a scalar and a vector respectively. From Peskin and
Schroeder I will quote the result that
Λ†1/2 γ 0 = γ 0 Λ−1
1/2

We already have that ψ → Λ1/2 ψ by definition. This means that ψ̄ will transform as
ψ̄ = ψ † γ 0 → ψ † Λ†1/2 γ 0 = ψ † γ 0 Λ−1 −1
1/2 = ψ̄Λ1/2

So then we can see how the total quantity ψ̄ψ transforms:

⇒ ψ̄ψ → ψ̄Λ−1
1/2 Λ1/2 ψ = ψ̄ψ

So ψ̄ψ is invariant under Lorentz transformations, so it is considered a scalar. For the next part
we’ll need another formula, that is, that the γ “vector” transforms exactly like one would expect
for a real vector, that is:
Λ−1 µ µ ν
1/2 γ Λ1/2 = Λν γ
We also know from the last part that ψ → Λ1/2 ψ and ψ̄ → ψ̄Λ−1
1/2 .

⇒ ψ̄γ µ ψ → ψ̄Λ−1 µ µ ν µ µ
1/2 γ Λ1/2 ψ = ψ̄Λν γ ψ = Λν (ψ̄γ ψ)

∴ ψ̄γ µ ψ → Λµν (ψ̄γ ν ψ)

Which is exactly how vectors transform.

Problem 3
1
Now we have to show that PR = + γ 5 ) and PL = 12 (1 − γ 5 ) have the properties to be right
2 (1
and left-handed projection operators. First we’ll verify that Pi2 = 1.
1 1 1
Pi2 = (1 ± γ 5 )2 = (1 ± 2γ 5 + (γ 5 )2 ) = (2 ± 2γ 5 ) = Pi
4 4 4
∴ Pi2 = Pi
Now we’ll verify PR + PL = ‘1.
1 1 1 2
⇒ PR + PL = (1 + γ 5 ) + (1 − γ 5 ) = (2 + γ 5 − γ 5 ) = = 1
2 2 2 2
Now we’ll verify PR PL = 0.
1 1 1
PR PL = (1 + γ 5 )(1 − γ 5 ) = (1 − 2(γ 5 )2 + (γ 5 )2 ) = (1 − 2 + 1) = 0
4 4 4
Problem 4
First we’ll show that any solution to the Dirac equation satisfies the continuity equation ∂µ (ψ̄γ µ ψ) =
0. Starting out we have the Dirac equation:
(i∂µ γ µ − m)ψ = 0
We can take the Hermitian conjugate of the whole equation to get
ψ̄(−i∂µ γ µ − m) = 0
where ∂µ here is acting to the left. We can multiply each equation by a proper factor of ψ or ψ̄ on
a side to get the following two equations:
−i(∂µ ψ̄)γ µ ψ − mψ̄ψ = 0
2
 iψ̄∂µ γ µ ψ − mψ̄ψ = 0
We can then subtract the first from the second the obtain
i((∂µ ψ̄)γ µ ψ + ψ̄∂µ γ µ ψ) = 0
We can ignore the factor of i and notice that we get a total derivative:
∴ ∂µ (ψ̄γ µ ψ) = 0

So given that ψ is a solution of the Dirac equation we have a conserved current ψ̄γ µ ψ. We are then
given that u is a solution to the Dirac equation, and we want to show that ψ = u · e−ipx has an
associated current. Since u is a solution to the Dirac equation, we are then given that:
∂µ (ūγ µ u) = 0
But ūγ µ u = ψ̄γ µ ψ since ψ̄ = eipx ū and eipx is a scalar so it commutes with everything. Thus, since
u is a solution to the Dirac equation we are guaranteed that
∂µ (ψ̄γ µ ψ) = 0
if ψ = u · e−ipx . We’ve thus proved it for the general case, so we are guaranteed that it works for
this problem.

Problem 5
We want to show in the zero-energy limit, in the chiral representation, the positive energy spinors
ψL = u e−imt , ψR = u e−imt
with  
u1
u=
u2
are solutions to the Dirac equation. First we notice that −imt = −ip · x with pµ = (m, 0, 0, 0). So
then the solution we are looking at is
 
u1
u2 −ip·x
ψ= u1 e


u2
So we can then plug this into the Dirac equation:
(i∂µ γ µ − m)ψ = 0
Recalling that ∂µ = ∂x∂ µ we only get a contribution from ∂0 because pµ only has an energy compo-
nent. So we are left with
m(γ 0 − I4 )ψ = 0
We can cancel out the factor of m, and then we get
       
0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 u1 u1 − u1
 u2 = u2 − u2 = 0
0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0    
1 0 0 0 − 0 0
  
1 0 u1 u1 − u1
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 u2 u2 − u2
So it satisfies the Dirac equation in the chiral representation. In this representation u1 corresponds
for the spin-up state and u2 corresponds to spin down (for both the left and right handed spinors)
as far as we know, this doesn’t change for negative energy solutions.
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 Problem 6
We want to find out if ∂µ (ψ̄γ µ γ 5 ψ) = 0. We can expand this out and we obtain:
∂µ (ψ̄γ µ γ 5 ψ) = (∂µ ψ̄)γ µ γ 5 ψ + ψ̄γ µ γ 5 (∂µ ψ)
We can use the fact that {γ µ , γ 5 } = 0 to simplify this:
= (∂µ ψ̄γ µ )γ 5 ψ − ψ̄γ 5 (∂µ γ µ ψ)
Then we use the Dirac equation and conjugate Dirac equation to simplify this further.
(i∂µ γ µ − m)ψ = 0, −i∂µ ψ̄γ µ − mψ̄ = 0 ⇒ ∂µ γ µ ψ = −imψ, ∂µ ψ̄γ µ = imψ̄
∂µ (ψ̄γ µ γ 5 ψ) = 2imψ̄γ 5 ψ
Which is not explicitly zero, so the current ψ̄γ µ γ 5 ψ does not have to be conserved.

Problem 7
We are given the following commutation relations for Dirac particles:
{a, a† } = 1, {a, a} = 0, {a† , a† } = 0
So if we define a vacuum state |0i such that a |0i = 0. We then define the state |1i = a† |0i. We
can then see that a† |1i = 0 since (a† )2 = 0. Making a† the creation operator, we can then see that
only one fermion can occupy a given state. In other words, the states created by a and a† span a
Hilbert space only made of two states, one being the vacuum, thus two identical fermions cannot
occupy the same state.

Problem 8
We are given a local U (1) gauge symmetry, ψ → e−iχ(x) ψ where χ(x) is an arbitrary function of
space-time. We are given the Lagrangian:
1
L = ψ̄γ µ i∂µ ψ − mψ̄ψ − F µν Fµν − J µ Aµ
4
And we are to show that this leads inevitably to Aµ → Aµ + ∂µ χ. We also will remember that by
definition ψ̄ = ψ † γ 0 ⇒ ψ̄ → eiχ(x) ψ̄. We’ll also need to know how ∂µ ψ transforms.
∂µ ψ → ∂µ (e−iχ(x) ψ) = −iψe−iχ(x) ∂µ χ(x) + e−iχ(x) ∂µ ψ
This means that the Lagrangian will transform as
1
L = ψ̄γ µ i∂µ ψ + ψ̄γ µ ψ∂µ χ(x) − mψ̄ψ − F µν Fµν − J µ Aµ
4
µ µ
We remember that ψ̄γ ψ is our conserved current J then the Lagrangian becomes
1
L = ψ̄γ µ i∂µ ψ + J µ ∂µ χ(x) − mψ̄ψ − F µν Fµν − J µ Aµ
4
We can see that the only way to leave the Lagrangian invariant is the impose the transformation
property on Aµ → Aµ + ∂ µ χ(x), which means the Lagrangian will now read
1 1
L = ψ̄γ µ i∂µ ψ+J µ ∂µ χ(x)−mψ̄ψ− F µν Fµν −J µ (Aµ +∂µ χ(x)) = ψ̄γ µ i∂µ ψ − mψ̄ψ − F µν Fµν − J µ Aµ
4 4
Which is the original form of the Lagrangian. We were a little careless, so we want to show F µν is
left invariant.
Fµν = ∂µ Aν − ∂ν Aν → ∂µ (Aν + ∂ν χ) − ∂ν (Aµ + ∂µ χ) = ∂µ Aν − ∂ν Aµ + ∂µ ∂ν χ − ∂ν ∂µ χ
= ∂ µ Aν − ∂ ν Aν
4
So the whole Lagrangian is left invariant.