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Work initially in units $G=c=\hslash =k_B=1$ and consider gravitational collapse settling to a nonextremal Schwarzschild black hole. Classically, outgoing rays sufficiently close to the forming event horizon suffer an arbitrarily large redshift. Quantum mechanically, the meaning of positive frequency at past null infinity differs from that at future null infinity; a Bogoliubov transformation between these two mode descriptions can therefore mix creation operators and annihilation operators. Hawking's argument computes that mixing and obtains a thermal occupation, even when the incoming state has no particles.

To see why the frequency mixing is universal, use final Schwarzschild time $t$, the Schwarzschild tortoise coordinate $r_{\ast }$, and retarded time $u=t-r_{\ast }$. Near the final event horizon, $r_{\ast }\sim (2\kappa {)}^{-1}\log (r-2M)$, with Schwarzschild surface gravity $\kappa =1/(4M)$. On a fixed advanced-time section, $u=v-2r_{\ast }$, so $r-2M$ is proportional to $e^{-\kappa u}$. Tracing a ray back through the regular collapsing region maps this small separation smoothly to its separation from the last escaping incoming ray. If $U$ is an affine incoming null coordinate and $U_H$ labels that limiting ray, the Hawking exponential ray map isThe logarithm at a simple horizon root fixes the exponent. Smooth propagation through the earlier collapse changes $A$ and phases but not the leading exponential redshift.

For a massless bosonic test scalar field, an outgoing mode of frequency $\omega >0$ at future null infinity behaves as $e^{-i\omega u}$. Trace it backward in the high-frequency geometric optics approximation. Its relevant incoming dependence is, up to normalization and a phase,Here $\Theta$ is the Heaviside step function. Incoming rays with $U>U_H$ do not escape. This truncated logarithmic phase is not purely positive frequency with respect to $U$. Decomposing it into incoming positive-frequency solutions $e^{-i{\omega }^{\prime }U}$ and negative modes $e^{+i{\omega }^{\prime }U}$ gives the Bogoliubov transformation. With $x=U_H-U$, the two relevant Fourier transform integrals areThe former is the positive-frequency coefficient and the latter is the negative-frequency coefficient; the Klein-Gordon inner product introduces the same frequency normalization into their modulus ratio. By the defining integral of the gamma function and analytic continuation in its Laplace parameter,For a complex number $z$ in the right half-plane, $|z^{-1-ia}|=|z{|}^{-1}{e}^{a\arg z}$. As $ϵ\downarrow 0$, the two arguments tend to $+\pi /2$ and $-\pi /2$. This gives the thermal ratio of Hawking Bogoliubov coefficients:The regulator fixes the branches and is essential to the sign of the thermal exponent.

Expand the outgoing annihilator as $b=\int d{\omega }^{\prime }({\alpha }_{\omega {\omega }^{\prime }}^{\ast }{a}_{{\omega }^{\prime }}-{\beta }_{\omega {\omega }^{\prime }}^{\ast }{a}_{{\omega }^{\prime }}^{†})$, including a complete set of incoming channels. The canonical identities for a bosonic Bogoliubov transformation express $[b,b^{†}]=1$. For normalized outgoing wave packets, they give $\int (|\alpha {|}^2-|\beta {|}^2)d{\omega }^{\prime }=1$. In the incoming Fock vacuum, the outgoing mean of the particle number operator is $N_{\omega }=\int |\beta {|}^{2}d{\omega }^{\prime }$. Combining the two identities with the thermal ratio, in the late-time narrow-frequency packet limit, yieldsWave packets avoid interpreting the divergent normalization of infinitely long continuum modes as a finite particle count. The temperature is the Hawking temperature, and the occupation is the zero-chemical-potential Bose-Einstein distribution. Restoring constants, the Schwarzschild black hole temperature is $T_H=\hslash c^3/(8\pi GM{k}_B)$ for physical mass $M$.

The preceding thermal occupation describes the horizon-originating channel before exterior scattering. The exterior angular and curvature potential partly reflects it. For a scalar field, the number flux at future null infinity is consequentlywhere the greybody factor ${\Gamma }_{\ell }$ is the transmission probability of a partial wave. Multiplication by $\omega$ gives its energy flux. Thus the asymptotic spectrum has the thermal denominator but is not an exact blackbody spectrum. For fermionic fields the canonical anticommutation relations replace the minus sign in the occupation denominator by a plus sign, at the same Hawking temperature.

The relevant state is the collapse vacuum for Hawking radiation: no incoming thermal bath at past null infinity, and regular short-distance behavior in freely falling coordinates at the forming event horizon. It predicts an outgoing flux, unlike equilibrium with a thermal bath on an eternal black hole. The derivation uses quantum field theory in curved spacetime on a prescribed classical geometry; it does not require outgoing particles to follow forbidden classical paths out of the interior. Positive energy carried to infinity is accompanied, in the semiclassical description, by negative Killing-energy flux into the black hole. Including that flux in slow backreaction decreases its mass, giving black-hole evaporation.

The approximation applies to the late radiation of a large nonextremal black hole while its surface gravity changes slowly on a time scale ${\kappa }^{-1}$. Backward propagation involves very high locally measured frequencies, so the calculation assumes the usual regular short-distance quantum-field state. It determines the leading radiation and temperature, not the Planck-scale endpoint of black-hole evaporation. The exponential horizon redshift forces positive/negative frequency mixing with a thermal ratio, giving outgoing Hawking radiation at $T_H=\kappa /(2\pi )$.

Let $h_{\mu \nu }={\partial }_{\mu }{X}^a{\partial }_{\nu }{X}_a$ be the induced worldvolume metric and write $H={\gamma }^{\mu \nu }{h}_{\mu \nu }$. Varying the embedding in the auxiliary-metric brane action and integrating by parts givesThe boundary contribution, including its relative factor, isAt initial and final times one fixes the endpoint configurations or uses variations of compact support. At a spatial boundary, free target directions require Neumann boundary conditions $n_{\mu }{\gamma }^{\mu \nu }{\partial }_{\nu }{X}^a=0$; fixed directions require Dirichlet boundary conditions $\delta X^a=0$. Mixed conditions must make this boundary pairing vanish. A closed brane has no spatial boundary. Since the auxiliary worldvolume metric enters without derivatives, its variation produces no extra boundary term.

Using $\delta \sqrt{-\gamma }=-(1/2)\sqrt{-\gamma }{\gamma }_{\mu \nu }\delta {\gamma }^{\mu \nu }$, variation of the inverse worldvolume metric givesTaking the trace yields $(p-1)(H-p-1)=0$. For $p\ne 1$, this forces $H=p+1$, and substitution gives ${\gamma }_{\mu \nu }=h_{\mu \nu }$. For a nondegenerate timelike embedding, eliminating the auxiliary worldvolume metric therefore gives twice the worldvolume area, with the overall physical brane tension supplied by the action normalization.

For $p=1$, the traced metric equation is an identity, and the remaining equation only says $h_{\mu \nu }=(H/2){\gamma }_{\mu \nu }$. It fixes the worldsheet metric up to a Weyl transformation, rather than determining it uniquely. Indeed $\sqrt{-\gamma }{\gamma }^{\mu \nu }$ is Weyl invariant precisely in two worldvolume dimensions, and the constant term vanishes precisely at $p=1$. This is the Weyl-invariance exception for the string among branes. In a nondegenerate interior it gives the familiar classical equivalence of Polyakov and Nambu–Goto actions; degeneracies at a free string endpoint must be treated through the original equations.

For the open string, choose conformal gauge ${\gamma }_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{diag}(-1,1)$ on $0\le \sigma \le \pi$. The embedding equation is the wave equation, and NN means ${\partial }_{\sigma }{X}^a=0$ at both spatial endpoints. For these operator formulas restore the conventional overall normalization $S=-TI/2$, with $T=(2\pi \alpha \prime {)}^{-1}$; the overall factor does not change the preceding classical equations. Its open-string mode expansion isReality requires $({\alpha }_n^a{)}^{†}={\alpha }_{-n}^a$. Canonical quantization givesThe metric equation is the vanishing of the worldsheet stress tensor: $({\partial }_{\tau }X+{\partial }_{\sigma }X{)}^2=({\partial }_{\tau }X-{\partial }_{\sigma }X{)}^2=0$. The two endpoint-compatible mode expansions contain the same string oscillator family. Their quadratic coefficients are the classical Virasoro constraints.

For the operators, use normal ordering with positive-index string oscillators as annihilators:Thus $({\partial }_{\tau }X\pm {\partial }_{\sigma }X{)}^2$ has modes $4{\alpha }^{\prime }{L}_m$ before the quantum ordering correction. The physical-state Virasoro conditions for an open string areOne imposes only the positive modes on kets, with the adjoint conditions on bras, as in Gupta-Bleuler quantization. Requiring every positive and negative mode to annihilate the same state would conflict with the Virasoro central extension. The intercept $a$ is the zero-mode ordering constant. The standard critical bosonic string theory has $d=26$ and $a=1$; in light-cone gauge in string theory the transverse zero-point energy gives $a=(d-2)/24$, while full anomaly-free Lorentz or BRST quantization fixes the critical values. The mass constraint is then ${\alpha }^{\prime }{M}^2=N-a$, with $N={\sum }_{n>0}{\alpha }_{-n}\cdot {\alpha }_n$.

To compute the Virasoro algebra, commute a quadratic generator with one string oscillator:These identities and the Jacobi identity imply that $[L_m,L_n]-(m-n)L_{m+n}$ commutes with every string oscillator and with the center-of-mass coordinates and momenta. Mode number permits a scalar term only for $m+n=0$. Its coefficient follows from the formal zero-momentum Fock vacuum, on which $L_0=0$. For $m>0$,The two possible string oscillator contractions giveThe timelike target coordinate still contributes one to this central charge: its two metric signs cancel in ${\eta }_{ab}{\eta }^{ab}=d$. ConsequentlyThis is the free-boson Virasoro central term. It vanishes for the three global conformal modes $m=0,\pm 1$.

To keep the intercept convention separate, define ${\mathcal{L}}_m=L_m-a{\delta }_{m,0}$. The Virasoro zero-mode shift changes the displayed central term toThe matter central charge here is $d$, not $d-2$. Covariant worldsheet ghost fields contribute $-26$; their inclusion cancels the anomaly at $d=26$, while the intercept is handled by the appropriate zero-mode and physical-state convention.

Canonical mode mixing and its inverse. Treat annihilation operators as column vectors and keep complex conjugation, transpose and Hermitian adjoint distinct. Computing the canonical commutation relations for $a^{\prime }=\alpha a+\beta a^{†}$ givesConsequently the required conditions areFor complete invertible mode mixing, putThe canonical identities for a bosonic Bogoliubov transformation are $\mathcal{T}J{\mathcal{T}}^{†}=J$, giving ${\mathcal{T}}^{-1}=J{\mathcal{T}}^{†}J$. Its upper blocks yieldEquivalently, the column identities are ${\alpha }^{†}\alpha -{\beta }^T\overline{\beta }=I$ and ${\alpha }^{†}\beta ={\beta }^T\overline{\alpha }$. In finite dimension invertibility follows from the canonical matrix identity. In infinitely many modes, the row identities alone need not give a complete inverse: $a_i^{\prime }=a_{i+1}$ preserves them but discards one mode. Here completeness of the two field-mode expansions supplies the needed invertible transformation.

Obtaining coefficients from the modes. Use the Klein-Gordon inner product, antilinear in its first argument,The normalized positive-frequency solutions satisfy $(p_i,p_j)={\delta }_{ij}$, $({\overline{p}}_i,{\overline{p}}_j)=-{\delta }_{ij}$ and $(p_i,{\overline{p}}_j)=0$. Current conservation makes this product independent of the Cauchy hypersurface when boundary flux vanishes. Taking the product of the field with a mode gives $a_i=(p_i,\hat{\Phi })$ and henceWith this operator convention, the corresponding mode expansion isThe minus sign comes from the negative norm of conjugate modes. Using a different convention for mode coefficients can move this sign and the complex conjugates; the operator formula fixes them unambiguously here.

Particle count. In the in-vacuum, only the contraction $⟨0|a_j{a}_k^{†}|0⟩={\delta }_{jk}$ survives. ThereforeThis is particle number from Bogoliubov coefficients: the old vacuum contains that expected number of particles in the new mode $i$. Nonzero negative-frequency mixing is the source of particle production. For continuum modes one uses normalized wave packets and replaces the sum by the corresponding integral.

The squeezed-state relation. First use finitely many modes, or an implementable infinite-mode limit. SeekThe canonical commutation relations giveAll further nested commutators vanish since $\hat{F}$ contains only creation operators. ThusThe old annihilation conditions hold exactly whenThe inverse transformation's canonical identity $A{B}^T=B{A}^T$ shows $A^{-1}B=(A^{-1}B{)}^T$, so the required symmetry is automatic. Also $A{A}^{†}-B{B}^{†}=I$ givesHence the singular values of $M$ are less than one. The Autonne-Takagi factorization $M=U\mathrm{diag}(s_j)U^T$ changes to independent canonical oscillators. For each factor, the squared norm of $\exp (s_j{b}_j^{†2}/2)|0⟩$ is the even-occupation seriesMultiplying these norms gives the finite-mode normalizationThe phase of $C$ is arbitrary. The resulting multimode squeezed vacuum is annihilated by all old annihilation operators, so uniqueness of the normalized Fock vacuum identifies it with $|0⟩$.

The PDF's squeezed-vacuum claim needs qualification for infinitely many modes. Bosonic mode mixing implementability requires $\beta$ to be a Hilbert-Schmidt operator, ${\sum }_{ij}|{\beta }_{ij}{|}^2<\infty$, for a common ordinary bosonic Fock space. For a counterexample, take $\alpha =\cosh sI$ and $\beta =\sinh sI$ on countably many modes with fixed $s>0$. The algebraic canonical conditions hold, but $M=\tanh sI$ and the finite-$N$ normalization is $C_N=(\cosh s{)}^{-N/2}\to 0$. Every mode has a fixed positive probability of nonzero occupation in the required product state; the probability that all but finitely many modes are empty is zero. Ordinary Fock space vectors instead have total occupation finite with probability one, even if their expected occupation is infinite. Thus there is no nonzero common-Fock-space vector of the prescribed form. The squeezed expression is a normalizable vacuum relation with a finite-mode regulator or the implementability condition, not solely from the commutator identities.

Black-hole radiation. In a collapse spacetime, choose early positive-frequency solutions with respect to affine incoming time $v$ on past null infinity, and late outgoing modes proportional to $e^{-i\omega u}$ on future null infinity. The early state is their in-vacuum. The Hawking exponential ray map hasfor late outgoing rays, with $\kappa >0$. Tracing a late mode backwards therefore gives a profile proportional toIt is not a pure positive-frequency incoming wave, so the Bogoliubov transformation has nonzero $\beta$.

To see the thermal factor, put $x=v_H-v>0$ and $a=\omega /\kappa$. The positive- and negative-frequency Fourier pieces have, apart from common normalization and phases, the regulated integralsAs $\epsilon \downarrow 0$, the positive-frequency piece has squared-modulus factor $e^{+\pi a}$ and the negative-frequency piece has $e^{-\pi a}$. Consequently the thermal ratio of Hawking Bogoliubov coefficients isFor a normalized narrow-frequency outgoing wave packet, combine this ratio with ${\sum }_j(|{\alpha }_{ij}{|}^2-|{\beta }_{ij}{|}^2)=1$. The occupation is the Bose-Einstein distributionThe Hawking temperature is thus the same one found by Euclidean regularity. For Schwarzschild, $\kappa =1/(4M)$ gives $T_H=1/(8\pi M)$ in natural units. Propagation through the exterior potential multiplies the asymptotic occupation by the greybody factor ${\Gamma }_{\ell }(\omega )$.

The outgoing radiation has partner-mode correlations across the horizon: the total state can be pure while the reduced outgoing state is thermal. A complete mode basis must include modes entering the horizon as well as those reaching infinity. The particle statement is made for normalized packets and finite observation intervals; idealized infinite-duration emission need not define the two vacua in one global Fock space. This explains both the squeezed-state structure and the physically measurable Hawking radiation.

For the real scalar field, the mostly-plus Minkowski metric gives a positive kinetic energy. Its canonical momentum and Hamiltonian operator areThe Euler-Lagrange field equation is $(\square -m^2)\varphi =0$, or $({\partial }_t^2-{\nabla }^2+m^2)\varphi =0$. Canonical quantization of a real scalar field promotes the fields to Hermitian operators and replaces the equal-time Poisson brackets by canonical commutation relations:The Heisenberg equation of motion then gives $\dot{\varphi }=\pi$ and $\dot{\pi }={\nabla }^2\varphi -m^2\varphi$, so the classical field equation remains an operator identity. Products at coincident points need a regulator; equivalently, the field is an operator-valued distribution.

Resolve the free field into positive- and negative-frequency plane waves. With $E_{\mathbf{k}}=\sqrt{|\mathbf{k}{|}^2+m^2}$ and $k\cdot x=-E_{\mathbf{k}}t+\mathbf{k}\cdot \mathbf{x}$,Reality pairs the two terms by Hermitian conjugation. The equal-time canonical commutation relations are equivalent toFor example, the two mixed terms in $[\varphi ,\pi ]$ each supply half the Dirac delta function. Thus the normalization $1/\sqrt{2E_{\mathbf{k}}}$ is fixed, not optional. Each independent mode is a quantum harmonic oscillator, with $a$ and $a^{†}$ its annihilation operator and creation operator.

Choose the Fock vacuum by $a(\mathbf{k})|0⟩=0$. Repeated creation operators construct the bosonic Fock space. Substitution into the Hamiltonian operator yieldswhere a finite volume $V$ can be used as a regulator. Normal ordering sets the flat-space vacuum reference to zero. The spatial momentum operator isIn particular, $[H,a^{†}(\mathbf{k})]=E_{\mathbf{k}}{a}^{†}(\mathbf{k})$ and $[\mathbf{P},a^{†}(\mathbf{k})]=\mathbf{k}{a}^{†}(\mathbf{k})$. A one-particle state therefore has positive energy, momentum $\mathbf{k}$, and invariant mass $m$. A scalar field transforms in the trivial spin representation, so its particles have spin zero. Because the field is real there is only one set of oscillators: the particle is its own antiparticle, with no distinct conserved particle-minus-antiparticle charge. The free theory does conserve its occupation-number sum, though generic scalar interactions need not.

A momentum eigenstate extends throughout space. A localized particle is described by a superposition such asIts wave packet evolves through the phase $e^{-i{E}_{\mathbf{k}}t}$; a narrow packet has group velocity $\mathbf{v}=\mathbf{k}/E_{\mathbf{k}}$, whose magnitude is at most one. Localization and dispersion concern these superpositions, rather than classical trajectories attached to individual field modes.

Relativistic spacetime behavior is encoded by microcausality. Directly from the oscillator commutators,This is a Lorentz-invariant distribution and vanishes at equal time. Any spacelike separation can be transformed to an equal-time separation, so $[\varphi (x),\varphi (y)]=0$ for spacelike $x-y$. Thus local operations at spacelike-separated points commute. The vacuum Wightman function need not vanish outside the light cone, but that correlation does not transmit a controllable signal. The Feynman propagator iswhich propagates positive energy forward and negative energy backward in the time-ordered product. For causal response one uses the retarded Green function, whose support lies in or on the future light cone.

Finally, commuting creation operators implyThe multiparticle state is symmetric under the particle exchange operator, which is Bose statistics. For a normalized single mode, the occupation states are $(a^{†}{)}^n|0⟩/\sqrt{n!}$ with $n=0,1,2,\dots$: any number of identical bosons can occupy it. There is no Pauli exclusion principle for these particles. This construction agrees with the Spin-statistics theorem relating integer spin to bosonic exchange symmetry under relativistic locality and positive-energy assumptions. It demonstrates the required scalar case without assuming that theorem as the quantization prescription.

Fix a classical globally hyperbolic spacetime with metric signature $(-+++)$; in this solution take $\hslash =1$. A free real Klein-Gordon field can be specified bywhere $\mu$ is its mass, $\xi$ its curvature coupling and $\mathcal{R}$ the scalar curvature. Global hyperbolicity ensures a well-posed initial-value problem on a Cauchy hypersurface $\Sigma$ and the existence of retarded and advanced propagators. Thus compactly supported field and normal-derivative data determine a classical solution. This fixes the dynamics, but not a Fock vacuum.

For real solutions with suitable support or falloff, the symplectic form on scalar-field solutions iswith $n$ the future unit normal. The field equation makes the current conserved, so this symplectic form is independent of $\Sigma$ when boundary flux vanishes. Quantize the initial data by the canonical commutation relation: with $\pi =n^a{\nabla }_a\varphi$ and the delta function defined relative to $d\Sigma$, $[\hat{\varphi }(x),\hat{\pi }(y)]=i{\delta }_{\Sigma }(x,y)$ and the two equal-field commutators vanish. Equivalently, construct the field algebra using the causal propagator. A state on that algebra is additional input.

To construct a particle representation, complexify the classical solution space. Its conserved Klein-Gordon inner product isIt is indefinite on all complex solutions. Choose a complete positive-norm subspace and an orthonormal mode basis $u_i$ with $(u_i,u_j)={\delta }_{ij}$, $(u_i^{\ast },u_j^{\ast })=-{\delta }_{ij}$ and $(u_i,u_j^{\ast })=0$. Such a choice is encoded by a compatible complex structure on the Klein-Gordon solution space. Its positive subspace gives the one-particle Hilbert space, and the associated bosonic Fock space contains symmetrized many-particle states. The field expansion isThe creation operator $a_i^{†}$ adds a particle in mode $i$, the annihilation operator removes one, and the number operator is $N_i=a_i^{†}{a}_i$. For continuous mode labels the sums and Kronecker deltas become integrals and delta functions, or one can work with normalized wave packets.

The ambiguity is precisely that the field equation and global hyperbolicity do not select that positive subspace. A different normalized basis may mix $u_j$ and $u_j^{\ast }$ by a Bogoliubov transformation, and then its annihilation operators mix $a_j$ and $a_j^{†}$. Its Fock vacuum and number operators differ. The Hadamard condition constrains physically acceptable short-distance singularities and allows local renormalization, but it still leaves many states. Hence there is generally no observer-independent particle count on an arbitrary dynamical geometry.

In a stable strictly stationary spacetime, a globally future timelike Killing vector field $K$ gives a preferred time translation. Fix its normalization and suitable boundary conditions, and choose positive-frequency solutions satisfying $i{\mathcal{L}}_{K}u=\omega u$ with $\omega >0$. The corresponding positive spectral subspace gives the preferred vacuum state in a stationary spacetime. Unitary changes of basis within it leave the vacuum and the particle notion unchanged. This construction assumes a well-defined positive stationary generator; stationarity by itself is insufficient if $K$ becomes spacelike, as in a Kerr ergoregion, or if unstable or zero modes obstruct the ground-state construction. It selects a preferred ground state under the stated assumptions, not a unique state among all thermal and excited states.

If the geometry is suitably stationary in the asymptotic past and future, choose those preferred mode spaces separately, giving the in-vacuum and out-vacuum. Propagate the past modes through the intervening region using the field equation and compare them to the future modes using the conserved Klein-Gordon inner product. Adopt the conventionThe canonical identities for a bosonic Bogoliubov transformation read $\alpha {\alpha }^{†}-\beta {\beta }^{†}=I$ and $\alpha {\beta }^T=\beta {\alpha }^T$. Extracting the future annihilation operator with the same inner product givesIn the in-vacuum, only $⟨a_j{a}_k^{†}⟩={\delta }_{jk}$ contributes to $⟨b_i^{†}{b}_i⟩$. Therefore the particle number from Bogoliubov coefficients isNonzero $\beta$ is the production of future particles from the past vacuum. Summing over future modes gives the total expected particle number when that sum is finite. For infinitely many modes, a Hilbert-Schmidt operator $\beta$ is the condition for unitary implementability between these pure bosonic Fock space representations; finite-volume or wave-packet calculations must respect the relevant measures and convergence. Particle production is determined by the negative-frequency mixing, rather than by identifying a single instantaneous vacuum throughout the time-dependent region.

The exponential acts on the Fock vacuum: $|\psi ⟩=e^{\zeta {\sum }_n{\psi }_n{a}_n^{†}}|0⟩$. For bosons, ${\psi }_n$ are commuting complex numbers. Since $[a_n,{\sum }_m{\psi }_m{a}_m^{†}]={\psi }_n$, commuting $a_n$ through the exponential gives $a_n|\psi ⟩={\psi }_n|\psi ⟩$. These are unnormalized bosonic coherent states.

For fermions, the labels are independent odd Grassmann variables, which anticommute with one another and with the fermionic operators. For one mode, the fermionic coherent state is $|\psi ⟩=(1-\psi a^{†})|0⟩$. The canonical anticommutation relations give $a(-\psi a^{†})|0⟩=\psi |0⟩=\psi |\psi ⟩$, using ${\psi }^2=0$. The even factors $1-{\psi }_n{a}_n^{†}$ commute between modes, so the same argument applies to every $n$. A Grassmann eigenvalue is a formal extension of the state space, not an ordinary complex eigenvalue of the nilpotent annihilation operator.

With dual state $⟨\psi |=⟨0|e^{\zeta {\sum }_n{a}_n{\bar{\psi }}_n}$, both cases obey $⟨\psi |{\psi }^{\prime }⟩=e^{{\sum }_n{\bar{\psi }}_n{\psi }_n^{\prime }}$.

Use units $\hslash =c=1$, the Minkowski metric ${\eta }_{ab}=\mathrm{diag}(1,-1,-1,-1)$, and the Fourier transform convention $f(x)=\int d^{4}p{e}^{-ip\cdot x}\tilde{f}(p)/(2\pi {)}^4$. Here gamma matrices satisfy $\{{\gamma }^a,{\gamma }^b\}=2{\eta }^{ab}{I}_4$, and $\bar{\psi }={\psi }^{†}{\gamma }^0$ is the Dirac adjoint. A single Dirac field describes both electrons and Positrons; these are the particle and antiparticle sectors of that field.

The free Maxwell Lagrangian and Dirac action, with a linear covariant gauge condition for the photon, giveBefore gauge fixing, the Maxwell Lagrangian has zero modes in field theory along $A_a\mapsto A_a+{\partial }_a\lambda$, so its quadratic operator cannot be inverted on all potentials. In the linear Lorenz gauge, the Faddeev-Popov determinant is $\det \square$. It is independent of $A$ and may be absorbed into the normalization; the corresponding Faddeev-Popov ghost fields have no interacting vertices in this Abelian linear gauge. A residual gauge symmetry is removed by the specified boundary conditions.

The free generating functional isThe Dirac field variables and their sources are independent Grassmann fields in this path integral. They anticommute; replacing them by ordinary commuting fields would give the wrong statistics and the wrong functional determinant. The bosonic Gaussian functional integral contributes an inverse square root of a determinant, and the Grassmann Gaussian integral contributes a determinant. If $K_A$ is the photon quadratic operator and $K_D=i{\gamma }^a{\partial }_a-m$, completing the square givesIn the last expression $D_F=i{K}_A^{-1}$ and $S_F=i{K}_D^{-1}$ are the photon propagator and Dirac propagator, with Feynman i-epsilon prescription. The products include the appropriate spacetime integrals and index contractions. Functional derivatives with respect to $J$, and consistently ordered left or right Grassmann derivatives with respect to the fermionic sources, generate the time ordering of the corresponding fields. In Feynman gauge, $\alpha =1$, the momentum-space two-point functions areThe Feynman i-epsilon prescription specifies vacuum boundary conditions rather than an arbitrary inverse of the differential operator.

The covariant photon propagator uses four potential components. Its operator formalism counterpart is Gupta-Bleuler quantization: impose $({\partial }_a{A}^a{)}^{(+)}|\mathrm{phys}⟩=0$ and take the Gupta-Bleuler null-state quotient. This leaves a positive physical state space with two transverse photon polarization vectors. The temporal and longitudinal oscillator components occur in intermediate covariant expressions; the Ward identity removes their dependence from physical amplitudes. The free Dirac field uses the canonical anticommutation relations, producing the same fermionic signs as its Grassmann fields in the path integral.

The operator-path-integral equivalence can be seen directly with a regulator. Divide time into small intervals and insert complete sets of field-coordinate states for bosons, and resolutions in fermionic coherent states for fermions. The bosonic matrix elements produce the phase-space factor $\exp i\sum [\pi \Delta \varphi -H\Delta t]$; integrating out the quadratic canonical momentum produces the bosonic action. The fermionic coherent state overlaps produce the first-order term $i{\psi }^{†}\dot{\psi }$ and the Berezin integral measure. Multiplying the short-time kernels recovers the path integral. Projecting the remote endpoints onto the Fock vacuum with an infinitesimal damping selects the same Feynman propagators as the operator formalism. Field insertions become time-ordered products under this construction. Conversely, their quadratic generating functional obeys the canonical free-field equations and has precisely the oscillator two-point functions, so its higher free correlators agree by the Wick theorem. This establishes the equivalence for the regulated free theory and order by order in the perturbation series.

To couple the matter field electromagnetically, promote its global phase symmetry to the local transformationThe gauge covariant derivative $D_a={\partial }_a+ie{A}_a$ obeys $D_a^{\prime }{\psi }^{\prime }=e^{-ie\lambda }{D}_a\psi$. Replacing ${\partial }_a$ by $D_a$ in the Dirac action therefore gives the invariant matter densityThe electromagnetic field tensor is unchanged by the local transformation. Thus the unfixed quantum electrodynamics action is gauge-invariant. The Dirac current $j^a=\bar{\psi }{\gamma }^a\psi$ is conserved by the matter equations, and the electron and Positron excitations carry opposite charges. The added gauge fixing density selects a representative and is not itself invariant under arbitrary local transformations; it does not change gauge-invariant observables. At a free fermion vertex,For external on-shell Dirac spinors the corresponding current contraction vanishes. The quantum extension is the Ward identity, which makes physical amplitudes insensitive to adding a multiple of the photon momentum to its polarization vector. A gauge-compatible regularization preserves this vector-current identity.

With ${\mathcal{L}}_{\mathrm{int}}=-e\bar{\psi }{\gamma }^a\psi A_a$, expand $\exp (i\int {\mathcal{L}}_{\mathrm{int}})$ in powers of $e$. A term of order $n$ contains $n$ spacetime integrations and $1/n!$. Applying the Wick theorem pairs the free fields: an $A$-$A$ Wick contraction supplies a photon propagator, and a $\psi$-$\bar{\psi }$ Wick contraction supplies an oriented Dirac propagator. Each insertion supplies an interaction vertex. The permutations of contractions cancel the expansion factorials except for the Feynman-diagram symmetry factor. Interchanging Grassmann fields produces the fermionic sign, including a minus sign for every closed fermion loop. This is how Feynman diagrams arise from expectation values, rather than an extra dynamical assumption.

The normalized vacuum generating functional removes components with no external insertions. In the operator formalism, for an interacting-vacuum expectation value of an inserted product $\mathcal{O}$, the same cancellation appears asVacuum projection and the Feynman i-epsilon prescription are implicit. The linked-cluster theorem exponentiates all connected vacuum bubbles into the same factor in numerator and denominator, so it cancels. Normalize by $Z[0]$ to remove every vacuum component. This cancellation of vacuum bubbles still leaves products of disconnected diagrams that each contain external insertions. If only connected correlators are wanted, differentiate the connected generating functional $W=-i\log [Z[J,\bar{\eta },\eta ]/Z[0]]$.

The resulting momentum-space QED Feynman rules for the bare theory can be stated in Feynman gauge as follows:

The illustrated interaction vertex has incoming fermion momentum $p$, incoming photon momentum $k$, and outgoing fermion momentum $p^{\prime }=p+k$. Its solid-line arrows indicate fermion flow. The photon wavy line has no fermion-flow arrow. The propagators, the vertex $-ie{\gamma }^a$, momentum conservation, and the fermionic signs determine the perturbative amplitudes.