Solutions to Peskin & Schroeder

Chapter 2
Zhong-Zhi Xianyu

Institute of Modern Physics and Center for High Energy Physics,

Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084
Draft version: November 8, 2012
1 Classical electromagnetism
In this problem we do some simple calculation on classical electrodynamics. The
action without source term is given by:
S =
1
4

d
4
xF

, with F

. (1)
(a) Maxwells equations We now derive the equations of motion from the action.
Note that
F

)
=

,
F

= 0.
Then from the rst equality we get:

)
(
F

)
= 4F

.
Now substitute this into Euler-Lagrange equation, we have
0 =

(
L
(

)
)

L
A

(2)
This is sometimes called the second pair Maxwells equations. The so-called rst
pair comes directly from the denition of F

, and reads

= 0. (3)
The familiar electric and magnetic eld strengths can be written as E
i
= F
0i
and

ijk
B
k
= F
ij
, respectively. From this we deduce the Maxwells equations in terms of
E
i
and B
i
:

i
E
i
= 0,
ijk

j
B
k

0
E
i
= 0,
ijk

j
E
k
= 0,
i
B
i
= 0. (4)

E-mail: xianyuzhongzhi@gmail.com
1
Notes by Zhong-Zhi Xianyu Solution to P&S, Chapter 2 (draft version)
(b) The energy-momentum tensor The energy-momentum tensor can be dened
to be the Nother current of the space-time translational symmetry. Under space-time
translation the vector A

transforms as,

. (5)
Thus

=
L
(

L = F

+
1
4

. (6)
Obviously, this tensor is not symmetric. However, we can add an additional term

to

T

with K

being antisymmetric to its rst two indices. Its easy to see that this
term does not aect the conservation of

T

. Thus if we choose K

= F

, then:
T

=

T

= F

+
1
4

. (7)
Now this tensor is symmetric. It is called the Belinfante tensor in literature. We can
also rewrite it in terms of E
i
and B
i
:
T
00
=
1
2
(E
i
E
i
+ B
i
B
i
), T
i0
= T
0i
=
ijk
E
j
B
k
, etc. (8)
2 The complex scalar eld
The Lagrangian is given by:
L =

m
2

. (9)
(a) The conjugate momenta of and

:
=
L

, =
L

=

=

. (10)
The canonical commutation relations:
[(x), (y)] = [

(x),

(y)] = i(x y), (11)

The rest of commutators are all zero.
The Hamiltonian:
H =

d
3
x
(

L
)
=

d
3
x
(

+ m
2

)
. (12)
(b) Now we Fourier transform the eld as:
(x) =

d
3
p
(2)
3
1

2E
p
(
a
p
e
ipx
+ b

p
e
ipx
)
, (13)
thus:

(x) =

d
3
p
(2)
3
1

2E
p
(
b
p
e
ipx
+ a

p
e
ipx
)
. (14)
2
Notes by Zhong-Zhi Xianyu Solution to P&S, Chapter 2 (draft version)
Feed all these into the Hamiltonian:
H =

d
3
x
(

+ m
2

)
=

d
3
x

d
3
p
(2)
3

2E
p
d
3
q
(2)
3

2E
q

[
E
p
E
q
(
a

p
e
ipx
b
p
e
ipx
)(
a
q
e
iqx
b

q
e
iqx
)
+p q
(
a

p
e
ipx
b
p
e
ipx
)(
a
q
e
iqx
b

q
e
iqx
)
+ m
2
(
a

p
e
ipx
+ b
p
e
ipx
)(
a
q
e
iqx
+ b

q
e
iqx
)
]
=

d
3
x

d
3
p
(2)
3

2E
p
d
3
q
(2)
3

2E
q

[
(E
p
E
q
+p q + m
2
)
(
a

p
a
q
e
i(pq)x
+ b
p
b

q
e
i(pq)x
)
(E
p
E
q
+p q m
2
)
(
b
q
a
q
e
i(p+q)x
+ a

p
b

q
e
i(p+q)x
)
]
=

d
3
p
(2)
3

2E
p
d
3
q
(2)
3

2E
q

[
(E
p
E
q
+p q + m
2
)
(
a

p
a
q
e
i(E
p
E
q
)t
+ b
p
b

q
e
i(E
p
E
q
)t
)
(2)
3

(3)
(p q)
(E
p
E
q
+p q m
2
)
(
b
q
a
q
e
i(E
p
+E
q
)t
+ a

p
b

q
e
i(E
p
+E
q
)t
)
(2)
3

(3)
(p +q)
]
=

d
3
x
E
2
p
+p
2
+ m
2
2E
p
(
a

p
a
p
+ b
p
b

p
)
=

d
3
xE
p
(
a

p
a
p
+ b

p
b
p
+ [b
p
, b

p
]
)
. (15)
Note that the last term contributes an innite constant. It is normally explained as the
vacuum energy. We simply drop it:
H =

d
3
xE
p
(
a

p
a
p
+ b

p
b
p
)
. (16)
Where we have used the mass-shell condition: E
p
=

m
2
+p
2
. Hence we at once nd
two sets of particles with the same mass m.
(c) The theory is invariant under the global transformation: e
i
,

e
i

.
The corresponding conserved charge is:
Q = i

d
3
x
(

)
. (17)
3
Notes by Zhong-Zhi Xianyu Solution to P&S, Chapter 2 (draft version)
Rewrite this in terms of the creation and annihilation operators:
Q = i

d
3
x
(

)
= i

d
3
x

d
3
p
(2)
3

2E
p
d
3
q
(2)
3

2E
q
[
(
b
p
e
ipx
+ a

p
e
ipx
)

t
(
a
q
e
iqx
+ b

q
e
iqx
)

t
(
b
p
e
ipx
+ a

p
e
ipx
)

(
a
q
e
iqx
+ b

q
e
iqx
)
]
=

d
3
x

d
3
p
(2)
3

2E
p
d
3
q
(2)
3

2E
q
[
E
q
(
b
p
e
ipx
+ a

p
e
ipx
)(
a
q
e
iqx
b

q
e
iqx
)
E
p
(
b
p
e
ipx
a

p
e
ipx
)(
a
q
e
iqx
+ b

q
e
iqx
)
]
=

d
3
x

d
3
p
(2)
3

2E
p
d
3
q
(2)
3

2E
q
[
(E
q
E
p
)
(
b
p
a
q
e
i(p+q)x
a

p
b

q
e
i(p+q)x
)
+ (E
q
+ E
p
)
(
a

p
a
q
e
i(pq)x
b
p
b

q
e
i(pq)x
)
]
=

d
3
p
(2)
3

2E
p
d
3
q
(2)
3

2E
q

[
(E
q
E
p
)
(
b
p
a
q
e
i(E
p
+E
q
)t
a

p
b

q
e
i(E
p
+E
q
t)
)
(2)
3

(3)
(p +q)
+ (E
q
+ E
p
)
(
a

p
a
q
e
i(E
p
E
q
)t
b
p
b

q
e
i(E
p
E
q
)t
)
(2)
3

(3)
(p q)
]
=

d
3
p
(2)
3
2E
p
2E
p
(a

p
a
p
b
p
b

p
)
=

d
3
p
(2)
3
(
a

p
a
p
b

p
b
p
)
, (18)
where the last equal sign holds up to an innitely large constant term, as we did when
calculating the Hamiltonian in (b). Then the commutators follow straightforwardly:
[Q, a

] = a

, [Q, b

] = b

. (19)
We see that the particle a carries one unit of positive charge, and b carries one unit of
negative charge.
(d) Now we consider the case with two complex scalars of same mass. In this case the
Lagrangian is given by
L =

i
m
2

i
, (20)
where
i
with i = 1, 2 is a two-component complex scalar. Then it is straightforward to
see that the Lagrangian is invariant under the U(2) transformation
i
U
ij

j
with U
ij
a matrix in fundamental (self) representation of U(2) group. The U(2) group, locally
isomorphic to SU(2) U(1), is generated by 4 independent generators 1 and
1
2

a
, with

a
Pauli matrices. Then 4 independent Nother currents are associated, which are given
by
j

=
L
(

i
)

L
(

i
)

i
= (

i
)(i
i
) (

i
)(i

i
)
j
a

=
L
(

i
)

L
(

i
)

i
=
i
2
[
(

i
)
ij

j
(

i
)
ij

j
]
. (21)
4
Notes by Zhong-Zhi Xianyu Solution to P&S, Chapter 2 (draft version)
The overall sign is chosen such that the particle carry positive charge, as will be seen in
the following. Then the corresponding Nother charges are given by
Q =i

d
3
x
(

i
)
,
Q
a
=
i
2

d
3
x
[

i
(
a
)
ij

i
(
a
)
ij

j
]
. (22)
Repeating the derivations above, we can also rewrite these charges in terms of creation
and annihilation operators, as
Q =

d
3
p
(2)
3
(
a

ip
a
ip
b

ip
b
ip
)
,
Q
a
=
1
2

d
3
p
(2)
3
(
a

ip

a
ij
a
ip
b

ip

a
ij
b
ip
)
. (23)
The generalization to n-component complex scalar is straightforward. In this case
we only need to replace the generators
a
/2 of SU(2) group to the generators t
a
in the
fundamental representation with commutation relation [t
a
, t
b
] = if
abc
t
c
.
Then we are ready to calculate the commutators among all these Nother charges and
the Hamiltonian. Firstly we show that all charges of the U(N) group commute with the
Hamiltonian. For the U(1) generator, we have
[Q, H] =

d
3
p
(2)
3
d
3
q
(2)
3
E
q
[
(
a

ip
a
ip
b

ip
b
ip
)
,
(
a

jq
a
jq
+ b

jq
b
jq
)
]
=

d
3
p
(2)
3
d
3
q
(2)
3
E
q
(
a

ip
[a
ip
, a

jq
]a
jq
+ a

jq
[a

ip
, a
jq
]a
ip
+ (a b)
)
=

d
3
p
(2)
3
d
3
q
(2)
3
E
q
(
a

ip
a
iq
a

iq
a
ip
+ (a b)
)
(2)
3

(3)
(p q)
= 0. (24)
Similar calculation gives [Q
a
, H] = 0. Then we consider the commutation among internal
U(N) charges:
[Q
a
, Q
b
] =

d
3
p
(2)
3
d
3
q
(2)
3
[
(
a

ip
t
a
ij
a
jp
b

ip
t
a
ij
b
jp
)
,
(
a

kq
t
b
k
a
q
b

kq
t
b
k
b
q
)
]
=

d
3
p
(2)
3
d
3
q
(2)
3
(
a

ip
t
a
ij
t
b
j
a
q
a

kq
t
b
k
t
a
j
a
jp
+ (a b)
)
(2)
3

(3)
(p q)
= if
abc

d
3
p
(2)
3
(
a

ip
t
c
ij
a
jp
b

ip
t
c
ij
b
jp
)
= if
abc
Q
c
, (25)
and similarly, [Q, Q] = [Q
a
, Q] = 0.
3 The spacelike correlation function
We evaluate the correlation function of a scalar eld at two points:
D(x y) = 0|(x)(y)|0, (26)
with x y being spacelike. Since any spacelike interval x y can be transformed to a
form such that x
0
y
0
= 0, thus we will simply take:
x
0
y
0
= 0, and |x y|
2
= r
2
> 0. (27)
5
Notes by Zhong-Zhi Xianyu Solution to P&S, Chapter 2 (draft version)
Now:
D(x y) =

d
3
p
(2)
3
1
2E
p
e
ip(xy)
=

d
3
p
(2)
3
1
2

m
2
+ p
2
e
ip(xy)
=
1
(2)
3

2
0
d

1
1
d cos

0
dp
p
2
2

m
2
+ p
2
e
ipr cos
=
i
2(2)
2
r

dp
pe
ipr

m
2
+ p
2
(28)
Now we make the path deformation on p-complex plane, as is shown in Figure 2.3 in
Peskin & Schroeder. Then the integral becomes
D(x y) =
1
4
2
r

m
d
e
r

2
m
2
=
m
4
2
r
K
1
(mr). (29)
6