English

Uniqueness of conserved currents in quantum mechanics

Quantum Physics 2009-11-10 v1

Abstract

It is proved by a functional method that the conventional expression for the Dirac current is the only conserved 4-vector implied by the Dirac equation that is a function of just the quantum state. The demonstration is extended to derive the unique conserved currents implied by the coupled Maxwell-Dirac equations and the Klein-Gordon equation. The uniqueness of the usual Pauli and Schrodinger currents follows by regarding these as the non-relativistic limits of the Dirac and Klein-Gordon currents, respectively. The existence and properties of further conserved vectors that are not functions of just the state is examined.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.quant-ph/0305175,
  title  = {Uniqueness of conserved currents in quantum mechanics},
  author = {Peter Holland},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/0305175},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

22 pages

R2 v1 2026-07-22T19:39:35.224Z