Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-short-options-paper-shared-by-prelims-and-parts-a-and-b-of-the-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2012/s18/3/1/solution

Assume the scalar potential is real, so the Weyl equation has a Hermitian Hamiltonian . Multiplying the equation and its adjoint by and respectively gives
Thus with and , the lower-index four-current obeys .
For ,
Consequently is conserved for spatially constant ; a spatially uniform time-dependent scalar offset would also commute with it. For general nonuniform it is not conserved. At nonzero momentum, , so the helicity eigenvalues are . In the chosen constant-potential Weyl Hamiltonian, the positive branch has helicity ; the negative branch has . An expectation value in a superposition need not itself be an eigenvalue.

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