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Connection between wave functions in the Dirac and Foldy-Wouthuysen representations

  • Physics of Elementary Particles and Atomic Nuclei. Theory
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Abstract

When the Foldy-Wouthuysen (FW) transformation is exact and the particle energy is positive, upper spinors in the Dirac and FW representations differ only by a constant factor, and lower spinors in the FW representation are zero. Deducing FW wave eigenfunctions directly from Dirac wave eigenfunctions allows one to use the FW representation to calculate expectation values of needed operators and to derive quantum and semiclassical equations of motion.

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  1. Institute of Nuclear Problems, Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus

    A. J. Silenko

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  1. A. J. Silenko
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Correspondence to A. J. Silenko.

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Silenko, A.J. Connection between wave functions in the Dirac and Foldy-Wouthuysen representations. Phys. Part. Nuclei Lett. 5, 501–505 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1547477108060034

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1547477108060034

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