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Spin on a 4D Feynman Checkerboard

Quantum Physics 2016-12-21 v1 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Theory

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 i±T3B/22Ni^{\pm T}\, {3}^{-B/2}\,2^{-N} to a path with NN steps, BB bends, and TT 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 mm introduces the amplitude iϵmi\epsilon m to flip chirality in any given time step ϵ\epsilon, and a Majorana mass similarly introduces a charge conjugation amplitude.

Keywords

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

R2 v1 2026-06-22T16:10:35.518Z