English

Two-component Dirac equation

Quantum Physics 2016-10-21 v1

Abstract

We provide an alternative approach to relativistic dynamics based on the Feshbach projection technique. Instead of directly studying the Dirac equation, we derive a two-component equation for the upper spinor. This approach allows one to investigate the underlying physics in a different perspective. For particles with small mass such as the neutrino, the leading order equation has a Hermitian effective Hamiltonian, implying there is no leakage between the upper and lower spinors. In the weak relativistic regime, the leading order corresponds to a non-Hermitian correction to the Pauli equation, which takes into account the non-zero possibility of finding the lower-spinor state and offers a more precise description.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1605.06337,
  title  = {Two-component Dirac equation},
  author = {Da-Wei Luo and P. V. Pyshkin and Ting Yu and Hai-Qing Lin and J. Q. You and Lian-Ao Wu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1605.06337},
  year   = {2016}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T14:05:37.336Z