University of Gujrat (Hafiz Hayat Campus)

Report: 01

Course Title: Quantum - 1

Course Code: 331
Semester: 5th
Section: Evening (c)

Submitted to:

Respected Sir Akber Ali

Submitted by:

Farjad Ghanki (20014110-017)

Hammad Ul Hassan (20014110-048

Department of Physics
Dirac Equation
To derive the Dirac equation, one must first look for a relativistic version of the Schrodinger
equation. The Schrodinger equation is essentially a conservation of energy equation, with the non-
relativistic form,

p2
+U=E
2m
2
p
is the kinetic energy of the particle, "U" is potential energy and "E" is the total energy.
2m
The kinetic energy term in the Schrodinger equation is the non-relativistic energy, and is only
accurate at low speeds. In order to have an accurate model of the electron, we need to use the
relativistic version of energy given to us by Einstein,
2 2 2 2 4
E −P c =m c
Notice this equation doesn't have a U term. I'll get back to this later (in the meantime, our equation
will describe a free electron i.e. free from external fields.)
In order to get a wave equation describing the electron, we need to start how we started with deriving
Schrodinger's equation. We will eventually get to the same point where we plug in our differential
operators,

−ℏ2 ∇ 2 ψ= p 2 ψ
∂
iℏ ψ=Eψ
∂t
in place of our momentum and energy variables.
Using our differential operators, our new conservation of energy equation becomes,
2 2
2 ∂ 2 2 2 4
−ℏ 2
ψ + ℏ c ∇ ψ=m c ψ
∂t
Due to this equation having a second order time derivative, this causes a number of issues in the
interpretation of the equation and use of it. To try and fix this, rewrite the equation in the form of,
2 2 2
−1 ∂ m c
2 2
ψ= 2 ψ −∇ 2 ψ
c ∂t ℏ
Paul Dirac considered this equation. In order to get a time derivative of order one, you would need
the derivative with respect with time to be done once. In the above equation, it is done twice. If one
could take a square root of the left hand side so that one ends up with an equation of the form,
1 ∂
ψ=H ψ
c ∂t
where H is some differential operator, this would then solve that problem.
Taking a literal algebraic square root would not be helpful because solving a differential equation
with a square rooted derivative is highly unorthodox and difficult.
Dirac came to the idea that if the hypothetical operator H could be expressed as linear combination
of first order spatial derivatives and the square root of the constant term, then squaring that operator
would be the same as distributing the linear derivatives and constant term with themselves. In this
way, our operator H would look like,
∂ ∂ ∂ mc
H=a x + ay +a z + β
∂x ∂y ∂z ℏ
where the a's and beta are yet to be determined.
Squaring our H operator, we get,

( )
2
2 ∂ ∂ ∂ mc
H = ax +a y + az +β
∂x ∂y ∂z ℏ
2 ∂ ∂ ∂ mc ∂ ∂ ∂ mc
H =(a ¿ ¿ x + ay +a z + β )(a x + ay + az + β )¿
∂x ∂y ∂z ℏ ∂x ∂y ∂z ℏ

2 2 ∂2 ∂2 ∂2 mc
H =a x +a a
x y +a a
x z +a x β
∂t 2
∂x∂y ∂ x∂ z 2
ℏ
2 2
∂ ∂ ∂ mc
+ a y ax + a2y 2 + a y a z +a y β
z ∂ y∂ x 2
∂y ∂ y ∂z ℏ

∂2 ∂2 ∂ mc
+ az a x + az ay +a2z 2 + a z β +¿
∂ z∂ x ∂z∂y ∂z ℏ

mc 2 ∂ m c2 ∂ mc 2 ∂
( )
2
2 mc
ax β +a y β + az β +β
ℏ ∂x ℏ ∂y ℏ ∂z ℏ
This equation looks pretty ugly, but all we did was just distribute the terms of H with itself like you
would normally do with parentheses.
Now remember, we want the squared H to reduce to the second order differential equation we
produced earlier. Because derivatives commute, we can see that in order for this to happen, we need,
2 2
a i =−1 β =1

And a i a j +a j ai=0 ai β + β ai=0

For i , j=x , y , z
If we define our alphas and beta in this way, then our H squared and our differential equation agree.
In this way we found our much desired equation,
i ∂ ∂ ∂ ∂ mc
=a x +a y + az +β
c ∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z ℏ

Because,
 ( )
2 2 2
∂ ∂ ∂ mc m c 2
ax + ay + az + β = 2 ψ−∇ ψ
∂x ∂y ∂z ℏ ℏ
which is what we were looking for. It is at this point an electromagnetic potential (the U that we had
earlier) could be added in order to describe an electron near electromagnetic fields (in an atom for
example.) I won't do that here for simplicity.
The 4 different 'types' of electrons that the equation describe are:

1. An electron with positive energy with spin up

2. An electron with positive energy with spin down

3. An electron with negative energy with spin up

4. An electron with negative energy with spin down

The equations naturally describe a particle with spin. It literally falls out of the equations!
The negative energy solutions caused a lot of concern for physicists. If electrons could have negative
energy, then that means that positive energy electrons could continue to loose energy until they
become negative, and then continue loosing energy, potentially releasing an infinite amount of
energy over an infinite amount of time, which is not what we observe.
To solve this problem, Dirac came up with a theory known as the negative energy sea (no longer
thought to be valid). In this theory, he predicted there would be a particle similar to the electron, but
with positive charge, the opposite of the electron. About 4 years later, the positron was discovered.
The common interpretation today is to regard the negative energy solutions as positrons going
backwards in time.