The authors prove that the dynamics of spin 1/2 particles in stationary gravitational fields can be described using an approach, which builds upon the formalism of pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians. The proof consists in the analysis of three expressions for Hamiltonians, which are derived from the Dirac equation and describe the dynamics of spin 1/2 particles in the gravitational field of the Kerr solution. The Hamiltonians correspond to different choices of tetrad vectors and differ from each other. The differences between the Hamiltonians confirm the conclusion known from many studies that the Hamiltonians derived from the Dirac equation are non-unique. Application of standard pseudo-Hermitian quantum mechanics rules to each of these Hamiltonians produces the same Hermitian Hamiltonian. The eigenvalue spectrum of the resulting Hamiltonian is the same as that of the Hamiltonians derived from the Dirac equation with any chosen system of tetrad vectors. For description of the dynamics of spin 1/2 particles in stationary gravitational fields can be used not only the formalism of pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians, but also an alternative approach, which employs the Parker scalar product. The authors show that the alternative approach is equivalent to the formalism of pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians.
In the paper, for the Kerr field, we prove that Chandrasekhar's Dirac Hamiltonian and the self-adjoint Hamiltonian H_η with a flat scalar product of the wave functions are physically equivalent. Operators of transformation of Chandrasekhar's Hamiltonian and wave functions to the η-representation with a flat scalar product are defined explicitly. If the domain of the wave functions of Dirac's equation in the Kerr field is bounded by two-dimensional surfaces of revolution around the z axis, Chandrasekhar's Hamiltonian and the self-adjoint Hamiltonian in the η-representation are Hermitian with eq…
As opposed to Arminjon statements, in this work we again assert the absence of the non-uniqueness problem of the Dirac theory in a curved and flat spacetime and illustrate this with a number of examples. Dirac Hamiltonians in arbitrary, including time-dependent, gravitational fields uniquely determine physical characteristics of quantum-mechanical systems irrespective of the choice of the tetrad fields. Direct spin-rotation coupling that occurs with a certain choice of tetrads does not manifest itself in final physical characteristics of the systems and therefore does not represent a physicall…
We summarize a recent work on the subject title. The Dirac equation in a curved spacetime depends on a field of coefficients (essentially the Dirac matrices), for which a continuum of different choices are possible. We study the conditions under which a change of the coefficient fields leads to an equivalent Hamiltonian operator H, or to an equivalent energy operator E. In this paper, we focus on the standard version of the gravitational Dirac equation, but the non-uniqueness applies also to our alternative versions. We find that the changes which lead to an equivalent operator H, or respectiv…
We present a summary of: 1) the non-uniqueness problem of the Hamiltonian and energy operators associated, in any given coordinate system, with the generally-covariant Dirac equation; 2) two different ways to restrict the gauge freedom so as to solve that problem; 3) the application of these two ways to the case of a uniformly rotating reference frame in Minkowski spacetime: we find that a spin-rotation coupling term is there only with one of these two ways.
We address the issue of the infinite ambiguity that affects the construction of a Fock quantization of a Dirac field propagating in a cosmological spacetime with flat compact sections. In particular, we discuss a physical criterion that restricts to a unique possibility (up to unitary equivalence) the infinite set of available vacua. We prove that this desired uniqueness is guaranteed, for any possible choice of spin structure on the spatial sections, if we impose two conditions. The first one is that the symmetries of the classical system must be implemented quantum mechanically, so that the …
In generic curved spacetimes, the unavailability of a natural choice of vacuum state introduces a serious ambiguity in the Fock quantization of fields. In this review, we study the case of fermions described by a Dirac field in several cosmological spacetimes, and present recent results about well-motivated criteria that ensure the uniqueness in the selection of a vacuum up to unitary transformations. These criteria are based on two requirements. First, the invariance of the vacuum under the symmetries of the Dirac equations in the considered spacetime. Second, the unitary implementability of …
We present a privileged Fock quantization of a massive Dirac field in a closed Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmology, partially selected by the criteria of invariance of the vacuum under the symmetries of the field equations, and unitary implementation of the dynamics. When quantizing free scalar fields in homogeneous and isotropic spacetimes with compact spatial sections, these criteria have been shown to pick out a unique Fock representation (up to unitary equivalence). Here, we employ the same criteria for fermion fields and explore whether that uniqueness result can be extended to the case …
We study the Fock quantization of a free Dirac field in 2+1-dimensional backgrounds which are conformally ultrastatic, with a time-dependent conformal factor. As it is typical for field theories, there is an infinite ambiguity in the Fock representation of the canonical anticommutation relations. Different choices may lead to unitarily inequivalent theories that describe different physics. To remove this ambiguity one usually requires that the vacuum be invariant under the unitary transformations that implement the symmetries of the equations of motion. However, in non-stationary backgrounds, …
Proofs of two statements are provided in this paper. First, the authors prove that the formalism of the pseudo-Hermitian quantum mechanics allows describing the Dirac particles motion in arbitrary stationary gravitational fields. Second, it is proved that using the Parker weight operator and the subsequent transition to the η-representation gives the transformation of the Schroedinger equation for nonstationary metric, when the evolution operator becomes self-conjugate. The scalar products in the η-representation are flat, which makes possible the use of a standard apparatus for the Hermitian …
The Fock quantization of free fields propagating in cosmological backgrounds is in general not unambiguously defined due to the non-stationarity of the spacetime. For the case of a scalar field in cosmological scenarios it is known that the criterion of unitary implementation of the dynamics serves to remove the ambiguity in the choice of Fock representation (up to unitary equivalence). Here, applying the same type of arguments and methods previously used for the scalar field case, we discuss the issue of the uniqueness of the Fock quantization of the Dirac field in the closed FRW spacetime pr…
The Dirac equation in a curved spacetime depends on a field of coefficients (essentially the Dirac matrices), for which a continuum of different choices are possible. We study the conditions under which a change of the coefficient fields leads to an equivalent Hamiltonian operator H, or to an equivalent energy operator E. We do that for the standard version of the gravitational Dirac equation, and for two alternative equations based on the tensor representation of the Dirac fields. The latter equations may be defined when the spacetime is four-dimensional, noncompact, and admits a spinor struc…
Although the standard generally-covariant Dirac equation is unique in a topologically simple spacetime, it has been shown that it leads to non-uniqueness problems for the Hamiltonian and energy operators, including the non-uniqueness of the energy spectrum. These problems should be solved by restricting the choice of the Dirac gamma field in a consistent way. Recently, we proposed to impose the value of the rotation rate of the tetrad field. This is not necessarily easy to implement and works only in a given reference frame. Here, we propose that the gamma field should change only by constant …
In a general spacetime, the possible choices for the field of orthonormal tetrads lead (in standard conditions) to equivalent Dirac equations. However, the Hamiltonian operator is got from rewriting the Dirac equation in a form adapted to a particular reference frame, or class of coordinate systems. That rewriting does not commute with changing the tetrad field $(u_α)$. The data of a reference frame F fixes a four-velocity field $v$, and also fixes a rotation-rate field $\MatΩ$. It is natural to impose that $u_0=v$. We show that then the spatial triad $(u_p)$ can only be rotating w.r.t. F, and…
Gorbatenko & Neznamov [arXiv:1301.7599] recently claimed the absence of the title problem. In this paper, the reason for that problem is reexplained by using the notions of a unitary transformation and of the mean value of an operator, invoked by them. Their arguments actually aim at proving the uniqueness of a particular prescription for solving this problem. But that prescription is again shown non-unique. Two Hamiltonians in the same reference frame in a Minkowski spacetime, only one of them including the spin-rotation coupling term, are proved to be physically non-equivalent. This confirms…
It was argued by Mashhoon that a spin-rotation coupling term should add to the Hamiltonian operator in a rotating frame, as compared with the one in an inertial frame. For a Dirac particle, the Hamiltonian and energy operators H and E were recently proved to depend on the tetrad field. We argue that this non-uniqueness of H and E really is a physical problem. We compute the energy operator in the inertial and the rotating frame, using three tetrad fields: one for each of two frameworks proposed to select the tetrad field so as to solve this non-uniqueness problem, and one proposed by Ryder. We…
