Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-quantum-field-theory-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2023/3/d/solution
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2023 3 d Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
The specified time reversal includes complex conjugating ; omitting that operation changes the answer. Put , , and . As in c, the Dirac adjoint in the source's transformed bilinear is . The conjugated Dirac operator has coefficient matricesCombining these coefficients with the chain rule signs and the Clifford algebra gives, without summing over ,For example the time coefficient is , and the second spatial coefficient is . Thus the kinetic term is invariant. The real Dirac mass term again reverses sign since . The spacetime integration has unit absolute Jacobian determinant, soEach operation reverses the sign of the mass, while their composition reverses it twice and preserves the kinetic term. In an operator formulation the complex conjugation of coefficients expresses the antiunitary operator character of time reversal; the transformation must not be treated as an ordinary unitary substitution with all 's held fixed. These statements concern the stated free action.
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