The Dirac equation is a fundamental equation in quantum mechanics and quantum field theory that describes the behavior of fermions, such as electrons and quarks, that have spin-½. It was formulated by the British physicist Paul Dirac in 1928 as a way to reconcile the principles of quantum mechanics with special relativity. The equation incorporates both the wave-like nature of matter and the relativistic effects of high velocities.
Articles by others on the same topic
Adds special relativity to the Schrödinger equation, and the following conclusions come basically as a direct consequence of this!
Experiments explained:
Experiments not explained: those that quantum electrodynamics explains like:See also: Dirac equation vs quantum electrodynamics.
- Lamb shift
- TODO: quantization of the electromagnetic field as photons?
The Dirac equation is a set of 4 partial differential equations on 4 complex valued wave functions. The full explicit form in Planck units is shown e.g. in Video 1. "Quantum Mechanics 12a - Dirac Equation I by ViaScience (2015)" at youtu.be/OCuaBmAzqek?t=1010:Then as done at physics.stackexchange.com/questions/32422/qm-without-complex-numbers/557600#557600 from why are complex numbers used in the Schrodinger equation?, we could further split those equations up into a system of 8 equations on 8 real-valued functions.
Equation 1.
Expanded Dirac equation in Planck units
. PHYS 485 Lecture 14: The Dirac Equation by Roger Moore (2016)
Source.