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
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.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag 2015