Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2025 / iii / Paper 301 / 1 / b

For $x^{\prime }=\Lambda x$, a Dirac spinor and vector field transform aswhere $S^{-1}{\gamma }^{\mu }S={\Lambda }^{\mu }{}_{\nu }{\gamma }^{\nu }$. Hence the spinor terms and $F_{\mu \nu }{F}^{\mu \nu }$ are Lorentz scalars. The Maxwell term is real. Integration by parts and $({\gamma }^{\mu }{)}^{†}={\gamma }^0{\gamma }^{\mu }{\gamma }^0$ show that the adjoint of $i\bar{\psi }{\gamma }^{\mu }{D}_{\mu }\psi$ differs from it by $-i{\partial }_{\mu }(\bar{\psi }{\gamma }^{\mu }\psi )$. Finally, $i[{\gamma }^{\mu },{\gamma }^{\nu }]$ is Dirac-Hermitian, so the real coefficient $\lambda$ makes the Pauli bilinear real. Thus the action is real.