Spin on a 4D Feynman Checkerboard
Abstract
We discretize the Weyl equation for a massless, spin-1/2 particle on a time-diagonal, hypercubic spacetime lattice with null faces. The amplitude for a step of right-handed chirality is proportional to the spin projection operator in the step direction, while for left-handed it is the orthogonal projector. Iteration yields a path integral for the retarded propagator, with matrix path amplitude proportional to the product of projection operators. This assigns the amplitude to a path with steps, bends, and right-handed minus left-handed bends, where the sign corresponds to the chirality. Fermion doubling does not occur in this discrete scheme. A Dirac mass introduces the amplitude to flip chirality in any given time step , and a Majorana mass similarly introduces a charge conjugation amplitude.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1610.01142,
title = {Spin on a 4D Feynman Checkerboard},
author = {Brendan Z. Foster and Ted Jacobson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1610.01142},
year = {2016}
}
Comments
Extends in several ways our earlier paper, arXiv:hep-th/0310166