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The electroweak interaction is the $SU(2{)}_L\times U(1{)}_Y$ gauge theory that unifies the weak and electromagnetic interactions.

An instructive tension motivates the unification: the photon is massless, while the W boson and Z boson are massive; electromagnetic interaction and weak interaction also have different observed low-energy strengths and chiral couplings. A gauge theory can relate their interactions while the Higgs field gives different masses after electroweak symmetry breaking. The resulting theory predicts relationships between processes, not merely a common name for observed phenomena.

Its useful organizing principle is the combination of weak isospin and hypercharge. The surviving electromagnetic generator is $Q=T_3+Y$ in the convention used here. The photon and Z boson are different mixtures of neutral gauge fields, while the charged current uses the charged combinations. The electroweak doublet gauge-boson mass matrix explains why one neutral mixture stays massless. At low energies, a massive W boson propagator instead produces the approximate Fermi interaction, withHere $g$ is the $SU(2{)}_L$ gauge coupling and $v$ the Higgs doublet vacuum expectation value. The inverse squared mediator mass suppresses low-energy weak rates. Unification does not require setting $g$ equal to the electromagnetic coupling $e$: their relation is $e=g\sin {\theta }_W$.

A striking experimental consequence is a neutral current in addition to the familiar charged current. The Gargamelle experiment tests this extra channel through visible charged secondaries, with a background problem fundamentally different from directly identifying a Z boson. The muon-neutrino electron recoil spectrum shows how the same Weinberg angle enters another process quantitatively.

In the convention $⟨0|J^{\mu }|P(p)⟩=-i\sqrt{2}{F}_P{p}^{\mu }$, the Fermi interaction gives $\mathcal{M}=G_F{F}_P{p}_{\mu }{\bar{u}}_{\ell }{\gamma }^{\mu }(1-{\gamma }_5)v_{\nu }$. With a massless antineutrino, the external Dirac equations reduce this to $G_F{F}_P{m}_{\ell }{\bar{u}}_{\ell }(1-{\gamma }_5)v_{\nu }$. The spin sum is $8G_F^2{F}_P^2{m}_{\ell }^{2}k\cdot q=4G_F^2{F}_P^2{m}_{\ell }^2(M_P^2-m_{\ell }^2)$. The two-body Lorentz-invariant phase space has integrated value $(1-m_{\ell }^2/M_P^2)/(8\pi )$, and the initial flux factor is $1/(2M_P)$, giving the displayed width. If the decay constant is instead defined without the square root of two, $f_P=\sqrt{2}{F}_P$ and the denominator is $8\pi$. A weak mixing coefficient multiplies the amplitude and its modulus squared multiplies the width.

For a massless neutrino scattering on an unpolarized up antiquark through the Fermi interaction, $d\sigma /dy=G_F^{2}s(1-y{)}^2/\pi$. The corresponding down-quark channel has $d\sigma /dy=G_F^{2}s/\pi$. Their difference follows from the chiral weak-current trace contraction. The parton distribution functions weight these rates in a hadron.

In units $\hslash =c=1$, a dimensionless action fixes $[\mathcal{L}]=4$. Canonical kinetic terms then give $[\varphi ]=[A_{\mu }]=1$, $[\psi ]=3/2$ and $[{\partial }_{\mu }]=1$. If an interaction operator has dimension $d_v$, its coefficient has mass dimension $[g_v]=4-d_v$. Thus scalar quartic, Yukawa and gauge couplings are dimensionless; a scalar cubic coupling has dimension one, a four-fermion coupling has dimension minus two, and the Weinberg coefficient has dimension minus one. These are engineering dimensions; anomalous scaling is an additional quantum effect.

For a connected graph with $L$ independent loop momenta, $I_B$ boson lines, $I_F$ fermion lines and $r_v$ derivatives at vertex $v$, ordinary covariant-gauge ultraviolet counting gives the superficial degree of divergenceThe second form follows from $L=I_B+I_F-V+1$ and counting field ends at vertices. It presumes the canonical large-momentum propagators; unitary-gauge vector propagators can obscure the cancellations of a renormalizable gauge theory. A nonnegative $D$ signals a possible overall ultraviolet divergence, not proof of one. Symmetries can cancel it, while a graph with $D<0$ can still contain divergent subgraphs.

With only operators of dimension at most four, increasing the vertex count does not require counterterms of unbounded dimension. Subject to the necessary symmetry identities and absence of gauge anomalies, scalar quartic theory, Yukawa theories and the Standard Model are perturbatively renormalizable when all required interactions are included. In particular, coupling a scalar to other fields can require a scalar quartic counterterm even if its coefficient was initially set to zero. The Higgs mechanism does not destroy renormalizability of the underlying anomaly-free gauge theory.

By contrast, repeated insertions of the dimension-six Fermi interaction or a dimension-five operator allow increasingly high-dimensional counterterms. Such terms are useful in an effective field theory with a stated expansion in energy over a high scale; nonrenormalizable does not mean unpredictive at a fixed order. A scalar ${\varphi }^6$ interaction and perturbative Einstein gravity in four dimensions provide other examples. Renormalizability also does not assert small coupling at every scale or a complete ultraviolet theory.

Each Dirac current $\bar{\psi }{\gamma }^{\mu }\psi$ has mass dimension three, so their product has dimension six. Its coefficient therefore has dimension $-2$:The Fermi interaction is not power-counting renormalizable, but its success at low energies is explained by effective field theory. Exchange of a heavy W boson between the appropriate chiral weak currents has a propagator that expands as $1/(m_W^2-q^2)=m_W^{-2}[1+q^2/m_W^2+\cdots ]$. The leading term is a local four-fermion interaction and further terms are suppressed by powers of $q^2/m_W^2$. The complete spontaneously broken electroweak gauge theory resolves the pointlike approximation at higher energies. The source's vector-current product illustrates the operator dimension; the actual weak interaction also has its specific flavors and chiral structure.

The derivative convention uses hypercharge Y with $Q=T_3+Y$. For each lepton family $l=e,\mu ,\tau$, the left-handed fields form an SU(2) doublet $L_l=({\nu }_l,l{)}_L^T$, with $Y=-1/2$. Their weak isospin values are $T_3=+1/2,-1/2$ and their electric charges are $0,-1$. The right-handed charged lepton $l_R$ is an SU(2) singlet, with $T_3=0$, $Y=-1$ and charge $-1$. The minimal model used here has no right-handed neutrino. A sterile right-handed neutrino, if added as a singlet with $Y=0$, would have no charged weak current interaction. Antiparticles carry the conjugate representations and opposite electric charges.

Expanding ${\bar{L}}_{l}i{\gamma }^{\mu }{D}_{\mu }{L}_l$ supplies $-g{\bar{L}}_l{\gamma }^{\mu }{A}_{\mu }^a{\sigma }_a{L}_l/2$. The off-diagonal entries of $A^a{\sigma }_a$ are $\sqrt{2}{W}^{+}$ and $\sqrt{2}{W}^{-}$. With the chiral projector $P_L=(1-{\gamma }^5)/2$, one has ${\bar{\nu }}_L{\gamma }^{\mu }{l}_L=\bar{\nu }{\gamma }^{\mu }{P}_{L}l$. Thus the two W boson interactions areFor quarks, separate rotations diagonalize the up-type and down-type mass terms. If their left-handed rotations are $U_{uL}$ and $U_{dL}$, the charged interaction contains the CKM matrix $V=U_{uL}^{†}{U}_{dL}$:There is an implicit sum over color charge. This quark mixing permits transitions between different families, rather than just the paired fields in a single doublet.

Let $J^{\mu }={\sum }_l{\bar{\nu }}_l{\gamma }^{\mu }(1-{\gamma }^5)l+J_{\mathrm{had}}^{\mu }$ and $\kappa =g/(2\sqrt{2})$. At momenta much smaller than $m_W$, neglect derivatives in the heavy W boson equation. Its mass and source terms can be completed to a square:This explicitly performs integrating out a charged vector boson. The resulting Fermi interaction isThe omitted terms contain derivatives and are relatively suppressed by momentum squared divided by $m_W^2$.

For the leptonic pion decay, Lorentz covariance restricts a vacuum-to-spin-zero current matrix element to a constant times $p^{\alpha }$. In the rest frame, rotations eliminate the spatial components. Under parity, the temporal vector current is even, whereas the vacuum is even and the pion is odd, so its temporal matrix element equals its negative and vanishes. The temporal axial current is odd and is allowed. This proves the vacuum-to-pseudoscalar current selection rule, rather than merely assuming an axial current. Define the pion decay constant byThen the vector-minus-axial charged weak current has matrix element $-i{f}_{\pi }{V}_{ud}{p}^{\alpha }$, up to an irrelevant overall phase convention. Consequently the scattering amplitude for the decay can be writtenUse $p=k+q$, the momentum-space Dirac equation ${\bar{u}}_e/k=m_e{\bar{u}}_e$, and $/q{v}_{\nu }=0$ for a massless neutrino. Since $/q(1-{\gamma }^5)=(1+{\gamma }^5)/q$, the neutrino contribution vanishes, leavingThe fermion spin sum is, using the supplied gamma matrix trace identities,Here $(k+q{)}^2=m_{\pi }^2$, $k^2=m_e^2$, and $q^2=0$. The mass term in the trace vanishes; anticommuting ${\gamma }^5$ reduces the remaining trace to twice $\mathrm{tr}(/k/q)$. It follows thatUsing two-body decay phase space, with final momentum magnitude $(m_{\pi }^2-m_e^2)/(2m_{\pi })$, gives the leptonic pseudoscalar decay widthThus the requested $m_e^2(m_{\pi }^2-m_e^2)$ factor is already present in the squared amplitude, and the phase space supplies one more threshold factor.

The physical explanation is helicity suppression. In the pion rest frame the two momenta are opposite. The massless antineutrino has positive helicity; zero total angular momentum would require the electron to have positive helicity too. The charged weak current instead creates a left-chiral electron, whose helicity is negative when its mass vanishes. A nonzero electron mass admits the required opposite helicity with an amplitude proportional to $m_e$. The decay amplitude vanishes for $m_e=0$, and the rate is suppressed by $m_e^2$.

At momentum transfers small compared with $M_W$, the two weak charged current vertices each carry $g/(2\sqrt{2})$ when written with $(1-{\gamma }_5)$, and the W boson propagator reduces to a local factor proportional to $1/M_W^2$. Matching their product to the Fermi interaction gives, at tree level,The Fermi constant is thus determined by the electroweak coupling and symmetry-breaking scale; the four-fermion description is a low-energy effective interaction.

Only the cross term $J_L^{†}{J}_H$ can annihilate the pion and create the stated charged-lepton/antineutrino pair. Its leptonic matrix element is ${\bar{u}}_e(k){\gamma }^{\mu }(1-{\gamma }_5)v_{\nu }(q)$. Lorentz covariance permits a vacuum-to-spin-zero current matrix element only proportional to $p^{\mu }$. At rest this has only a temporal component. The vacuum is parity-even and the pion is parity-odd, while $V_H^0$ is parity-even, so $⟨0|V_H^0|\pi ⟩$ equals its own negative and vanishes. Lorentz covariance then makes the full vector matrix element vanish. The temporal axial current is parity-odd and is allowed: this is the vacuum-to-pseudoscalar current selection rule.

The minus sign in $J_H=V_H-A_H$ cancels the interaction's minus sign, up to an irrelevant common S-matrix phase. ThereforeThe pion decay constant convention here includes the given $\sqrt{2}$ in its current matrix element. Momentum conservation and the external Dirac equations give $p=k+q$, ${\bar{u}}_e/k=m_e{\bar{u}}_e$, $/q{v}_{\nu }=0$. Since $/q(1-{\gamma }_5)=(1+{\gamma }_5)/q$, the neutrino term vanishes andThis is helicity suppression: the amplitude vanishes in the zero charged-lepton-mass limit despite the larger available phase space.

For the spin sum, the Dirac adjoint of $1-{\gamma }_5$ is $1+{\gamma }_5$, and the completeness relations giveThe chiral projectors automatically eliminate the unused neutrino helicity when the full massless completeness relation is inserted. There is no initial spin average for a spin-zero pion.

In the pion rest frame, let $r=|\mathbf{k}|=|\mathbf{q}|$, $E=\sqrt{r^2+m_e^2}$. After integrating the spatial delta function and angles, the two-body Lorentz-invariant phase space becomesThe root is $r_{\ast }=(m_{\pi }^2-m_e^2)/(2m_{\pi })$ and $E_{\ast }=(m_{\pi }^2+m_e^2)/(2m_{\pi })$. The absolute derivative of the delta-function argument is $r_{\ast }/E_{\ast }+1=m_{\pi }/E_{\ast }$. Thus ${\Phi }_2=r_{\ast }/(4\pi m_{\pi })$. Multiplying by the spin sum and the initial factor $1/(2m_{\pi })$ yields the leptonic pseudoscalar decay widthIf the decay constant were instead defined by a matrix element $i{f}_{\pi }{p}^{\mu }$ without $\sqrt{2}$, then $f_{\pi }=\sqrt{2}{F}_{\pi }$ and the width coefficient would be $f_{\pi }^2/(8\pi )$; mixing these conventions would introduce a factor-of-two error.

The same derivation for a muon cancels the common hadronic and weak factors in the pion electron-to-muon decay ratio:The numerical value uses approximate masses $0.511,105.66,139.57$ MeV. Agreement with the corresponding Standard Model prediction tests lepton universality and the chiral, helicity-suppressing structure of the weak charged current, rather than the poorly calculable hadronic decay constant. A difference in the electron and muon weak couplings would multiply the ratio by their squared coupling ratio. Precision agreement must be assessed after radiative corrections, with matching photon-inclusive experimental definitions; the displayed tree-level ratio is not itself the radiatively corrected precision prediction.

Use metric $g_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{diag}(1,-1,-1,-1)$ and the hypercharge convention $Q=T^3+Y$. Then the Higgs doublet has $Y=1/2$ and transforms under electroweak gauge invariance asThe covariant derivative sign consistent with the requested expression isA convention that instead calls the doublet hypercharge one puts $Y/2$ in the charge generator and derivative; the physical coupling is the same. Here $B_{\mu }\mapsto B_{\mu }-{\partial }_{\mu }\beta /g^{\prime }$ and the matrix-valued $SU(2)$ connection transforms as $A_{\mu }\mapsto U{A}_{\mu }{U}^{-1}+(i/g)({\partial }_{\mu }U)U^{-1}$, making $D_{\mu }\varphi$ transform like $\varphi$.

In unitary gauge, the upper component of the derivative comes from the off-diagonal Pauli matrices:The lower component isWriting $c_W=\cos {\theta }_W$, $s_W=\sin {\theta }_W$, inversion of the neutral rotation gives $A^3=c_{W}Z+s_{W}A$ and $B=-s_{W}Z+c_{W}A$. Since $g^{\prime }=g\tan {\theta }_W$, the coefficient of the photon vanishes, whereas $-g{c}_W-g^{\prime }{s}_W=-g/c_W$. ThusThe zero photon coupling expresses the neutrality of the surviving radial Higgs boson.

The scalar Lagrangian density is ${\mathcal{L}}_{\varphi }=(D_{\mu }\varphi {)}^{†}{D}^{\mu }\varphi -V$. Adding $-F_{\mu \nu }^a{F}^{a\mu \nu }/4-B_{\mu \nu }{B}^{\mu \nu }/4$ gives the complete bosonic electroweak Lagrangian density. Its scalar and vector mass terms, after electroweak symmetry breaking, are obtained directly asIndeed, the shifted quartic Higgs potential normalization gives ${\varphi }^{†}\varphi -v^2/2=vH+H^2/2$. Comparing with a canonically normalized real scalar mass term, a complex vector mass term and a real vector mass term yieldsThe extra factor one half in this paper's Higgs potential is why $M_H^2$ is $\lambda v^2$, rather than $2\lambda v^2$ in another common convention. The tree-level electroweak gauge-boson masses give $\cos {\theta }_W=M_W/M_Z$: measure the two vector masses and take their ratio. Beyond tree level this extraction requires a specified renormalization convention and radiative corrections.

Expanding the vector terms gives the cubic and quartic Higgs couplings to electroweak gauge bosons:The four elementary Feynman diagrams and their all-incoming Feynman rules are shown below. Differentiating with respect to two identical $Z$ fields supplies a factor two; differentiating with respect to two identical Higgs fields supplies another factor two in the quartic rules.

There are no elementary $H\gamma \gamma$, $HZ\gamma$, $HH\gamma \gamma$ or $HHZ\gamma$ vertices in this tree-level Lagrangian density. Loop-induced photon interactions are a different order. The scalar self-interactions, if included, have rules $HHH:-3i{M}_H^2/v$ and $HHHH:-3i{M}_H^2/v^2$.

The prime LEP2 search used the Higgs boson coupling to Z bosons through Higgsstrahlung, $e^{+}{e}^{-}\to Z^{\ast }\to ZH$, shown in the first panel of the process figure in Question 3. This identifies an associated-production interaction, rather than an on-shell decay of a single $Z$ into a heavier Higgs. The channel's historical role is documented in the LEP2 Higgs-search account.

For the free charged W boson, take $W_{\mu }(x)=\int d^{4}p{e}^{-ipx}{W}_{\mu }(p)/(2\pi {)}^4$, with the conjugate field carrying $e^{ipx}$. In the action, multiplying the two field strengths gives $2[p^2{W}_{\mu }^{†}{W}^{\mu }-(p\cdot W^{†})(p\cdot W)]$. ThereforeTo invert it, separate the transverse and longitudinal projectors $P_T=g-pp/p^2$, $P_L=pp/p^2$. The operator is $(p^2-M_W^2)P_T-M_W^2{P}_L$, soSince the quadratic action kernel is $-O$, its Proca propagator isFor all momentum components small relative to $M_W$, the low-momentum limit is $D_{\mu \nu }\simeq i{g}_{\mu \nu }/M_W^2$, with corrections of relative order $p^2/M_W^2$ or $p_{\mu }{p}_{\nu }/M_W^2$. This local limit leads to the Fermi interaction, with $G_F/\sqrt{2}=g^2/(8M_W^2)$ for the charged-current normalization used here.

Work in natural units $\hslash =c=k_B=1$, at temperatures far below the $W$-boson mass but of order or above the electron mass. The Fermi interaction then supplies a local four-fermion amplitude. The Fermi constant has dimension energy${}^{-2}$. In scattering of a thermal lepton from a nonrelativistic nucleon, the nucleon current matrix element has size $m_N$, while the lepton current has size $T$. Thus $\mathcal{M}\sim G_F{m}_{N}T$. The two-body relativistic scattering cross-section contains the kinematic factor $s^{-1}\sim m_N^{-2}$; when the final and initial lepton energies are comparable, their momentum ratio is of order one. Consequently $\sigma \sim |\mathcal{M}{|}^2/m_N^2\sim G_F^2{T}^2$. This estimates temperatures above the electron mass and mass-splitting thresholds; those scales only affect the dimensionless rate function near freeze-out.

The light leptons in the thermal bath have number density $n\sim T^3$ and speed of order unity. Their conversion rate per nucleon is thereforeFor example, $n+{\nu }_e\leftrightarrow p+e^{-}$ and $n+e^{+}\leftrightarrow p+{\bar{\nu }}_e$ change the neutron-to-proton ratio. The bath density here is the lepton density, not the much smaller baryon density. Dimensionless weak couplings, phase-space integrals and the several reaction channels set a numerical coefficient. Electron masses and the neutron-proton splitting also become important for a precision rate near cosmological weak freeze-out.

The product of leptonic weak charged currents in the Fermi interaction contains four-fermion cross terms such asThis produces ${\mu }^{-}\to e^{-}+{\bar{\nu }}_e+{\nu }_{\mu }$, and the same interaction permits neutrino-electron scattering and inverse muon decay. Pure electromagnetic interactions have no neutrino coupling and preserve the separate charged-lepton species, so cannot produce these processes by themselves. The factor $1-{\gamma }_5=2P_L$ fixes the chiral structure of the weak charged current.

The pion is a pseudoscalar with negative parity, while the strong-interaction vacuum is parity even. Lorentz covariance restricts a vacuum-to-pion vector-current matrix element to $a{p}^{\alpha }$. In the pion rest frame only its temporal component could be nonzero, but a vector current's temporal component is parity even, whereas the pion is parity odd. The matrix element therefore equals its negative and vanishes. The temporal component of an axial current is parity odd, so its matrix element is allowed and Lorentz covariance fixes it to a constant times $p^{\alpha }$. Defining the pion decay constant in the printed normalization givesThis proves both the vector-current exclusion and the axial-current form; $F_{\pi }$ itself is a strong-interaction parameter, not fixed by symmetry.

The cross term $J_{\mathrm{leptons}}^{\alpha †}{J}_{\alpha }^{\mathrm{hadrons}}$ gives, up to an irrelevant overall phase, the decay amplitudeTake the antineutrino mass to be zero. Since $p=k+q$, ${\bar{u}}_e/k=m_e{\bar{u}}_e$, and $/q{v}_{\nu }=0$, anticommutation with ${\gamma }_5$ givesThe amplitude has helicity suppression by one power of the charged-lepton mass.

Using the external spin sums, with no initial spin average for a spin-zero pion,The middle equality follows from $(1-{\gamma }_5)/q=/q(1+{\gamma }_5)$, $(1+{\gamma }_5{)}^2=2(1+{\gamma }_5)$, and the gamma matrix trace identities. Summing a full massless neutrino spin basis introduces no factor of two: the current projector annihilates the inactive helicity.

For completeness, evaluate the two-body Lorentz-invariant phase space in the pion rest frame. Its three-momentum delta function sets $\mathbf{q}=-\mathbf{k}$, and the energy delta function is $\delta (M_{\pi }-\sqrt{|\mathbf{k}{|}^2+m_e^2}-|\mathbf{k}|)$. The radial root isCombining its derivative with $1/(4E_k|\mathbf{k}|)$ and integrating solid angle givesThe invariant squared amplitude is independent of direction, so the supplied decay formula yields the leptonic pseudoscalar decay widthThe denominator is $4\pi$ because the matrix element contains $\sqrt{2}{F}_{\pi }$. With the alternative definition $f_{\pi }=\sqrt{2}{F}_{\pi }$, the same width is $G_F^2{f}_{\pi }^2{M}_{\pi }{m}_e^2(1-m_e^2/M_{\pi }^2{)}^2/(8\pi )$. In either convention it vanishes as $m_e\to 0$.

Replacing the electron by a muon gives the same hadronic factor and weak coupling. Hence the pion electron-to-muon decay ratio isThis is a tree-level result with massless neutrinos. The cancellation of $F_{\pi }$ and $G_F$ makes the ratio a clean test of the predicted helicity suppression and electron–muon universality in the chiral weak charged current. For example, scalar or pseudoscalar four-fermion interactions could remove the charged-lepton mass factor and substantially enhance the electron mode. Radiative corrections are required for a precision experimental comparison.

With two quark generations, the charged hadronic current containsA $K^{-}$ contains $s\bar{u}$, so its annihilation into the lepton pair selects the term proportional to $\sin {\theta }_C$. Strong strangeness conservation excludes the $d$ term from its vacuum matrix element. Its amplitude is thus multiplied by $\sin {\theta }_C$ and its width by ${\sin }^2{\theta }_C$:Here $F_K$ is the pure strong-interaction decay constant in the same square-root-of-two convention. If the pion current's quark mixing coefficient is also shown explicitly, its width carries ${\cos }^2{\theta }_C$; it is already absorbed if the stated pion matrix element uses the full weak current. Thus the isolated weak-factor ratio is ${\tan }^2{\theta }_C$, while the kaon suppression relative to unit weak coupling is the requested Cabibbo suppression factor ${\sin }^2{\theta }_C$.

Use the metric $g^{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{diag}(1,-1,-1,-1)$ and the usual Dirac basis, with $({\gamma }^0{)}^{†}={\gamma }^0$ and $({\gamma }^i{)}^{†}=-{\gamma }^i$. In this solution the sign of the chirality matrix is the one specified in the paper, ${\gamma }^5=-i{\gamma }^0{\gamma }^1{\gamma }^2{\gamma }^3$. Define $t_0=1$ and $t_i=-1$, with no summation in componentwise transformation formulas.

Complex conjugation changes the explicit $-i$ to $+i$. Three spatial gamma matrices each contribute another minus sign, soAlso $({\gamma }^5{)}^2=1$ and $\{{\gamma }^5,{\gamma }^{\mu }\}=0$ by the Clifford algebra.

The quantum time-reversal operator is antiunitary: it conjugates numerical coefficients, including the Dirac spinors and plane-wave exponentials in the mode expansion of a Dirac field. To fix the spin phase explicitly, put ${ϵ}_s=(-1{)}^{1/2-s}$ and useThis convention gives ${\hat{T}}^2=-1$ on a one-fermion state, since ${ϵ}_s{ϵ}_{-s}=-1$. In the transformed expansion, change variables from $(p,s)$ to $(p_T,-s)$. The Lorentz-invariant phase-space measure is unchanged, and $p_T\cdot x=-p\cdot x_T$. The coefficient of $b^s(p)e^{-ip\cdot x_T}$ is thereforeThe same calculation applies to the antiparticle coefficient. Thus, with this explicitly fixed spin convention,The spin phase in the Dirac time-reversal matrix matters here: a common change of the one-particle time-reversal phase replaces $B$ by $-B$; the phase-independent relation is $B\propto {\gamma }^{5}C$. It changes neither the defining conjugation property nor any bilinear result below. Normalize $B$ to be a unitary matrix. In the Dirac basis, ${\gamma }^0$ is real and commutes with $B$, so transforming the Dirac adjoint givesHere complex conjugation of the matrix defining the Dirac adjoint is essential. An explicit realization consistent with the sign of ${\gamma }^5$ used here is $C=i{\gamma }^2{\gamma }^0$ and $B={\gamma }^1{\gamma }^3$; it has $B^{-1}=-B$, so conjugation by $B$ and by $B^{-1}$ coincides. The usual changes of Dirac spinor basis by unitary matrices carry the adjoint and time-reversal matrix with them.

For the charge-conjugation matrix, the gamma matrix adjoint and transpose identities give ${\gamma }^{\mu T}=t_{\mu }{\gamma }^{\mu \ast }$. Consequently $B{\gamma }^{\mu T}{B}^{-1}={\gamma }^{\mu }$. Since $C={\gamma }^{5}B$ in the chosen phase convention,This proof uses a temporal Hermitian matrix and spatial skew-Hermitian matrices explicitly; the transpose identity is preserved when $C$ is transformed appropriately with the gamma matrices.