Remarks on the constraint structure and the quantization of the Rarita-Schwinger field

Journal Article · Mon Sep 15 04:00:00 EDT 1980 · Phys. Rev., D; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.22.1368· OSTI ID:5120535

Aurilia, A; Kobayashi, M; Takahashi, Y

The role of the spin-1/2 components in the constraint structure of the Rarita-Schwinger field with minimal electromagnetic coupling is understood in terms of a simple mechanical analog. While one of the spin-1/2 components plays the role of a Lagrangian multiplier, the other is directly responsible for the difficulty of quantization observed by Johnson and Sudarshan. We surmise that this is the common origin of most of the difficulties discussed so far in the literature. In as much as our results are derived from a mechanical model, our analysis applies to a considerably large class of interactions and shows how the interpretation of Poisson brackets as anticommutators of field operators (Jordan-Wigner procedure) is not always automatic as it is commonly accepted.

• Research Organization: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste, Italy
• OSTI ID: 5120535
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev., D; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Rev., D; (United States) Vol. 22:6; ISSN PRVDA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

645202 -- High Energy Physics-- Particle Interactions & Properties-Theoretical-- Electromagnetic Interactions & Properties
645400* -- High Energy Physics-- Field Theory
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ANGULAR MOMENTUM
BASIC INTERACTIONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERACTIONS
FIELD THEORIES
FUNCTIONS
INTERACTIONS
INVARIANCE PRINCIPLES
LAGRANGIAN FIELD THEORY
LORENTZ INVARIANCE
PARTICLE PROPERTIES
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
RARITA-SCHWINGER THEORY
SPIN
WAVE FUNCTIONS