Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-quantum-field-theory-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2024/2/b/solution
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2024 2 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Every positive-energy Dirac spinor obeys . Therefore the fermion spin sum satisfiesSince and , the trace of each outer product is its contracted scalar. The prescribed normalization and the two spin states yieldNow make exactly the stated polynomial assumption and apply polynomial reduction of a slashed vector. By a, on the mass shell write . ThenThe matrices and are linearly independent for a physical nonzero , so . The gamma matrix trace identities, and , giveThus andNo explicit representation of the Dirac spinors has been used. The same reasoning covers provided .
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