Dirac sea
The Dirac sea is an interpretation of the negative energy states that comprises the vacuum. The Dirac sea of particles and antiparticles is part of the foundation of modern quantum theory. It is named after British mathematician and physicist, Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac. The "sea" has an infinite background charge and may play a role in the perceptions of spacetime structures. The "sea" is regarded as a model for the next evolution of the electron field.
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Dirac?s idea
- All negative energy
states are already filled.
- The universe contains a
vast invisible "sea" of
negative energy (e.g., electrons).
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Dirac studied the electron in complex spacetime. In 1928, Dirac published the Dirac equation. With the Dirac formalism, electron description is a particle to the proton. After others (including Hermann Weyl, Robert Oppenheimer, and Igor Tamm) disproved this possibility, Dirac predicted a new particle, the positron. If negative energy is transformed into a positive energy state, the energy is perceived as a positron. Positron is the antiparticle of electron. Positrons are produced through pair production (bipolar coupling).
In relativistic quantum mechanics, Dirac's equation admits both positive and negative energy states. So, what is there to prevent a fermion from constantly radiating away energy, resulting in lesser and lesser energy, resulting in a huge instability? Dirac proposed almost all the negative energy states are filled by a sea of negative energy fermions. In modern treatments of quantum field theory, the Dirac sea is subtly introduced by having different definitions for the Background radiation, Chiral anomaly, Cosmic background radiation, Dirac equation, Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, Electron-positron pair, Luminiferous aether, Radiative effect, Radiant energy, Vacuum polarization, Vacuum energy, Virtual particle, Sunyaev Zeldovic Effect, Schrödinger, Hermann Weyl
External links, resources, references
- Finster, Felix, "". Mathematics Department, Harvard University. International Press, Advance Theory Mathematical Physics 2 (1998) 963 – 98 [ arxiv.org ]
- Nielsen, Holger B., and Masao Ninomiya, "". YITP-98-21, NBI-HE-98-08. August 19 1998. [ arxiv.org ]
- Groves, Martin, and Warren B. Perkins "". Nucleal Physics B573 (2000) 449-500. August 19, 1999. [ arxiv.org ]
- Tsushima, Kazuo, et. al., "". July 5, 2001. [ arxiv.org ]
