Relativistic Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Field Theory
Abstract
A general formulation of classical relativistic particle mechanics is presented, with an emphasis on the fact that superluminal velocities and nonlocal interactions are compatible with relativity. Then a manifestly relativistic-covariant formulation of relativistic quantum mechanics (QM) of fixed number of particles (with or without spin) is presented, based on many-time wave functions and the spacetime probabilistic interpretation. These results are used to formulate the Bohmian interpretation of relativistic QM in a manifestly relativistic-covariant form. The results are also generalized to quantum field theory (QFT), where quantum states are represented by wave functions depending on an infinite number of spacetime coordinates. The corresponding Bohmian interpretation of QFT describes an infinite number of particle trajectories. Even though the particle trajectories are continuous, the appearance of creation and destruction of a finite number of particles results from quantum theory of measurements describing entanglement with particle detectors.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1205.1992,
title = {Relativistic Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Field Theory},
author = {H. Nikolic},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1205.1992},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
44 pages, minor changes matching the 2nd edition of the book. Chapter 8. of the book "Applied Bohmian Mechanics: From Nanoscale Systems to Cosmology", 2nd edition, edited by X. Oriols and J. Mompart (Jenny Stanford Publishing, 2019); ISBN: 978-9814800105, Copyright 2019 by Jenny Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:0904.2287, arXiv:1006.1986