Eur. Phys. J. H 40, 261–278 (2015)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/e2015-60006-1

On the Pauli-Weisskopf anti-Dirac paper

Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 14, 72076 Tübingen, Germany

^a e-mail: qed.dittrich@uni-tuebingen.de

Received: 2 February 2015
Received in final form: 8 April 2015
Published online: 14 May 2015

Abstract

We review in this article the role which the work of Pauli and Weisskopf played in formulating a quantum field theory of spinless particles. To make our computations as transparent as possible, we offer a physicist’s derivation of the Klein-Gordon-Fock equation. Since invariant functions play a significant part in our paper, we will discuss them in great detail. We emphasize Pauli’s and Weisskopf’s view that Dirac’s hole theory is totally obsolete in formulating a consistent quantum field theory, be it for scalar or spinor particles. As an important example we present the calculation for producing charged scalar particles in an external electric field.