Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 48 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Start with the Dirac equation . The equation for the Dirac adjoint is . Transpose it and multiply by the charge-conjugation matrix C to obtainFor this to be the original Dirac equation multiplied by minus one, the necessary matrix identity isUsing , the charge conjugation of the Dirac adjoint follows directly:The final step uses and .
Let , , and . For anticommuting fields, or normal-ordered operator bilinears, the minus sign in the transformed Dirac adjoint cancels the minus sign from interchanging the two fields. The charge conjugation of fermion bilinears is thereforeThe matrix identity just proved gives . Also , obtained by transposing its four gamma matrices and reversing their order. Henceso and , where . Since the external vector V is odd under charge conjugation, becomes and is generally not invariant.
For parity symmetry in quantum field theory, write . The given spinor transformation gives , , and , with arguments evaluated at the reflected point. The contracted interaction again becomes . Each of parity and charge conjugation interchanges the two chiral contractions; applying both restores . This particular neutral current interaction is CP invariant, although neither P nor C is separately a symmetry. This conclusion uses the stipulated C-odd vector transformation; it is not a claim that all interactions of the Standard Model preserve CP symmetry.
For time reversal of a Dirac field, the gamma matrix adjoint and transpose identities giveWith , anticommutation of with every gamma matrix yieldsEquivalently, . Since time reversal is an antiunitary operator, the factor i in must also be conjugated. ThusUsing the stated transformations of the field and its Dirac adjoint, the transformed bilinear consequently isThe external vector has the same component signs. Their contraction is unchanged, proving time reversal of a real neutral chiral vector interaction. A real coupling is understood; an antiunitary operator also conjugates coefficients, and relative complex weak phases need not satisfy this invariance.
A charged weak box contribution to kaon mixing is shown below. The incoming and outgoing connect through two charged W bosons and two internal up-type quarks. The black arrows are fermion flow, so the lower line's arrows oppose the momentum of the corresponding antiquark. The blue arrows specify the direction of positive charge carried by the charged propagators. Each vertex is a charged weak current vertex, with the appropriate CKM matrix element; the internal flavors are summed over .
Use precisely the printed exchange-positive CP convention for neutral kaon mixing. In the flavor basis, CP symmetry acts by . Write the restricted effective matrix asThen , so CP invariance of this mixing operator is exactly . Therefore CP noninvariance in this neutral-kaon mixing block means . Violation elsewhere in a larger Hamiltonian would not, by itself, prove an inequality for this particular block.
For neutral-kaon mass matrix diagonalization, choose correlated roots , , and eigenvalues . The vectors and are the corresponding eigenvectors, as direct multiplication verifies. Taking orthonormal flavor states and writing the printed CP eigenstates as and , one findswhere the kaon CP mixing parameter isOverall phases have been absorbed. The kaon mixing square-root branch convention must be chosen continuously so that in the CP-conserving limit for the eigenstate labeled plus. These formulas are exact in the nondegenerate case with ; the requested small admixtures follow if . Smallness is an additional weak-CP-violation assumption, not a consequence of alone. A Hermitian mass operator has ; the same algebra also applies to the effective non-Hermitian operator that includes decays, where the two eigenstates need not be orthogonal. At a fully degenerate , a CP eigenbasis can simply be chosen.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 305 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Write for , so . Under the antiunitary operator , the coefficients and exponentials in the mode expansion of a Dirac field are conjugated as well as the creation and annihilation operators being transformed. ThusRelabel and . The stated Dirac spinor identities implyAlso . Substitution reconstructs the original Dirac field at the reflected time:The minus sign comes from reversing the spin label, not from anticommuting field operators. This is the relation between the time-reversal matrix and the charge-conjugation matrix in the supplied spin phases and intrinsic phase convention. Rephasing the charge-conjugation matrix or the intrinsic time-reversal phase can change its displayed form. It proves time reversal of a Dirac field without identifying an antiunitary operator with its finite-dimensional spinor matrix.
Spin phase in the Dirac time-reversal matrix Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
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 and , the relabelled coefficient is , giving . A common phase changes 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.
