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Projection Operators for Energy and Spin

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Relativistic Quantum Mechanics
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Abstract

In practical calculations of quantum electrodynamic (QED) processes we will become acquainted with a technique of calculation which allows the simple treatment of complicated expressions; especially the calculation of traces of products of many γ matrices. It is based on a projection procedure, i.e. a method to project a spinor with a given sign of energy and fixed polarization out of a general wave function or a wave packet. The appropriate operators which achieve this are called projection operators.

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References

  1. See W. Greiner: Quantum Mechanics — An Introduction, 3rd ed. (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1994), Exercise 13.2.

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© 1997 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Greiner, W. (1997). Projection Operators for Energy and Spin. In: Relativistic Quantum Mechanics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03425-5_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03425-5_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-61621-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-03425-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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