Time reversal of a Dirac field ($\hat{T}\psi (x){\hat{T}}^{-1}=B\psi (-x^0,\mathbf{x})$)

The spinor matrix $B$ obeys $B^{-1}{\gamma }^{\mu \ast }B=t_{\mu }{\gamma }^{\mu }$, with $t_0=1$ and $t_i=-1$. Conjugating the explicit $i$ and three spatial matrices also gives $B^{-1}{\gamma }^{5\ast }B={\gamma }^5$. With spin phases $f_s=(-1{)}^{1/2-s}$ and identities $f_s{u}^{-s\ast }(p_T)={\gamma }^{5}C{u}^s(p)$, relabeling spin and momentum in the mode expansion of a Dirac field gives $B=-{\gamma }^{5}C$, because $f_{-s}=-f_s$. That last relation is phase-convention dependent; the quantum time-reversal operator itself is not just a spinor matrix.

Let $B={\gamma }^{5}C$ with the unitary charge-conjugation matrix C, and $t_0=1,t_i=-1$. Hermitian-adjoint gamma identities give $C{\gamma }^{\mu \ast }{C}^{-1}=-{\gamma }^0{\gamma }^{\mu }{\gamma }^0$, and multiplication by ${\gamma }^5$ gives the displayed identities. An antiunitary operator conjugates the explicit i in ${\gamma }^5=i{\gamma }^0{\gamma }^1{\gamma }^2{\gamma }^3$, which is essential to the second identity. Both vector and axial currents therefore have the same time-reversal component signs; their contraction with a similarly transforming neutral vector is invariant for real couplings.

The matrix in time reversal of a Dirac field depends on the convention for the spin-flip phases and on the sign of the spinor identity used when relabeling the mode expansion of a Dirac field. If ${ϵ}_s=(-1{)}^{1/2-s}$ and ${ϵ}_s{u}^{-s\ast }(p_T)=-{\gamma }^{5}C{u}^s(p)$, the relabelled coefficient is ${ϵ}_{-s}{u}^{-s\ast }(p_T)={\gamma }^{5}C{u}^s(p)$, giving $B={\gamma }^{5}C$. A common phase changes $B$ but leaves its gamma matrix conjugation property and the induced fermion bilinear transformation unchanged. The antiunitary operator acts on both numerical coefficients and creation or annihilation operators.