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PHY-306 EPP Particle Physics Basics Slide

The document is a series of slides about particle physics basics and anti-particles. It covers topics like the Klein-Gordon equation, the Dirac equation, and holes and anti-particles. The Klein-Gordon equation describes relativistic waves but allows for negative energy states. The Dirac equation provides a first-order wave equation and uses matrices instead of numbers. It predicts two positive energy states and two negative energy states, with the vacuum as a "sea" of negative states and anti-particles arising from occupying positive states.

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Udaibir Pradhan
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48 views

PHY-306 EPP Particle Physics Basics Slide

The document is a series of slides about particle physics basics and anti-particles. It covers topics like the Klein-Gordon equation, the Dirac equation, and holes and anti-particles. The Klein-Gordon equation describes relativistic waves but allows for negative energy states. The Dirac equation provides a first-order wave equation and uses matrices instead of numbers. It predicts two positive energy states and two negative energy states, with the vacuum as a "sea" of negative states and anti-particles arising from occupying positive states.

Uploaded by

Udaibir Pradhan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Particle Physics Basics

EPP

In the last section we covered the following topics:


Units in Particle Physics
Elementary Particles Quarks and Leptons
Antiparticles
Particle Families
Hadrons
Forces
Fermions and Bosons
Particle Physics and Cosmology
PHY-306 EPP

Particle Physics Basics

Slide

Anti-Particles

EPP
In this section we will cover the following topics:
The Klein-Gordon Equation
The Dirac Equation
Holes and Anti-Particles

PHY-306 EPP

Anti-Particles

Slide

EPP

The Klein-Gordon Equation

The de Broglie wave:

obeys the non-relativistic Schrdinger equation:


with
Relativistically
The corresponding wave equation is:

The Klein-Gordon equation


PHY-306 EPP

Anti-Particles

Slide

EPP

Negative Energy States

As well as
This equation also has a solution

corresponding to momentum -p and negative energy


The problem is the quadratic energy-momentum
relationship will always give negative solutions
These can also be thought of as a positive energy state
moving backwards in time

PHY-306 EPP

Anti-Particles

Slide

EPP

The Dirac Equation

Dirac looked for a 1st order equation

where H is the Hamiltonian and


Dirac proposed:

The required solutions must also satisfy the Klein-Gordon equation


and cannot be ordinary numbers but can be 4x4 matrices
PHY-306 EPP

Anti-Particles

Slide

EPP

The Dirac Equation

Basically Dirac took the square root of the wave operator:


A

Which only works if


AB+BA = 0

etc

AA = BB = = 1
Which means using matrices rather than ordinary numbers
wrt the parameters defined by Dirac: A = i1, B = i2, C = i3 and D = 0

PHY-306 EPP

Anti-Particles

Slide

The Dirac Equation

EPP
The Dirac equation is satisfied by:
with

The Dirac equation is then written:

with

PHY-306 EPP

Anti-Particles

Slide

Holes and Anti-Particles

EPP

These correspond to:


2 spin states with positive energy
2 spin states with negative energy

Dirac pictured the vacuum as a


sea of negative energy states
(spin up, spin down) with all the
positive energy states unoccupied

Can create particle anti-particle pair from vacuum


PHY-306 EPP

Anti-Particles

Slide

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