Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 301 1 c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
For the plane wave , the equations from part a becomeIn the rest frame , transversality sets while the three spatial components remain independent. Hence a Proca field has three polarization states, as required for a massive spin-one particle. A covariant orthonormal choice obeys
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 301 2 a v Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Positivity selectsfor which the kinetic terms combine, up to normalization and a total derivative, into the Proca field form . Taking the divergence of the equation of motion givesFor the selected relation and , this implies the transverse vector field condition . The remaining three massive polarizations have positive on-shell energy when .