Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-theoretical-physics-major-option-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017/5/b/solution
Past exam of the theoretical physics major option course of the University of Oxford 2017 5 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Varying the vector field gives the Proca equation,Its divergence uses antisymmetry of to cancel the first term. Since ,For an on-shell momentum this imposes on the four polarization components, leaving three independent solutions. In the rest frame, makes , leaving precisely the three spatial polarizations of a massive spin-one particle.
There is no fourth independent oscillator hidden in . Its canonical momentum is zero because the Lagrangian has no , and the temporal equation constrains in terms of the spatial data. Equivalently the primary and secondary second-class constraints remove two variables from the eight-dimensional phase space, leaving six phase-space variables, or three physical degrees of freedom.
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