Events

Seminar of the Institute of Theoretical Physics of University of Wrocław

On Relativistic Quantum Mechanics of the Majorana Particle

prof. dr hab. Henryk Arodź

UJ

The Hilbert space of states of the relativistic Majorana particle consists of bispinors with real components. The usual momentum operator -i ∇ can not be defined in such space. Instead of it, we introduce the axial momentum operator p₅ = -i γ₅ ∇. It has rather intriguing properties. In particular, in the case of free massive particle there is an oscillating component, reminiscent of the Zitterbewegung. Next, we accordingly reformulate the plane wave expansion. The time evolution of the modes is given by an SO(4) matrix, which replaces the standard U(1) factor exp(-i E t).