Special Relativity and Quantum Theory: A Collection of Papers on the Poincaré Group (Fundamental Theories of Physics (33))

Special relativity and quantum mechanics are likely to remain the two most important languages in physics for many years to come. The underlying language for both disciplines is group theory. Eugene P. Wigner's 1939 paper on the Unitary Representations of the Inhomogeneous Lorentz Group laid the foundation for unifying the concepts and algorithms of quantum mechanics and special relativity. In view of the strong current interest in the space-time symmetries of elementary particles, it is safe to say that Wigner's 1939 paper was fifty years ahead of its time. This edited volume consists of Wigner's 1939 paper and the major papers on the Lorentz group published since 1939. . This volume is intended for graduate and advanced undergraduate students in physics and mathematics, as well as mature physicists wishing to understand the more fundamental aspects of physics than are available from the fashion-oriented theoretical models which come and go. The original papers contained in this volume are useful as supplementary reading material for students in courses on group theory, relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, relativistic electrodynamics, general relativity, and elementary particle physics. This reprint collection is an extension of the textbook by the present editors entitled "Theory and Applications of the Poincare Group." Since this book is largely based on the articles contained herein, the present volume should be viewed as a reading for the previous work. continuation of and supplementary We would like to thank Professors J. Bjorken, R. Feynman, R. Hofstadter, J. Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Relativistic Invariance and Quantum Phenomena....Pages 3-16 The Early Years of Relativity....Pages 17-28 Front Matter....Pages 29-29 On Unitary Representations of the Inhomogeneous Lorentz Group....Pages 31-102 Group Theoretical Discussion of Relativistic Wave Equations....Pages 103-117 Unitary representations of the Lorentz group....Pages 118-129 Feynman Rules for Any Spin....Pages 130-144 Representations of the Poincaré group for relativistic extended hadrons....Pages 145-148 A simple method for illustrating the difference between the homogeneous and inhomogeneous Lorentz groups....Pages 149-154 Front Matter....Pages 155-155 The Quantum Theory of the Emission and Absorption of Radiation....Pages 157-179 The Quantum Theory of Dispersion....Pages 180-198 On the Time—Energy Uncertainty Relation....Pages 199-209 Time-energy uncertainty relation and Lorentz covariance....Pages 210-215 Front Matter....Pages 217-217 Forms of Relativistic Dynamics....Pages 219-226 Quantum Theory of Non-Local Fields. Part I. Free Fields....Pages 227-234 Quantum Theory of Non-Local Fields. Part II. Irreducible Fields and their Interaction....Pages 235-240 Structure and Mass Spectrum of Elementary particles. I. General Considerations....Pages 241-243 Structure and Mass Spectrum of Elementary Particles II. Oscillator Model....Pages 244-246 Properties of Bethe-Salpeter Wave Functions....Pages 247-257 Covariant Harmonic Oscillators and the Quark Model....Pages 258-264 Orthogonality relation for covariant harmonic-oscillator wave functions....Pages 265-267 Front Matter....Pages 217-217 Complete orthogonality relations for the covariant harmonic oscillator....Pages 268-271 Dirac’s form of relativistic quantum mechanics....Pages 272-276 Front Matter....Pages 277-277 Electron Scattering from the Proton....Pages 279-281 Nucleon Electromagnetic Form Factors at High Momentum Transfers in an Extended Particle Model Based on the Quark Model....Pages 282-288 The Behavior of Hadron Collisions at Extreme Energies....Pages 289-304 Inelastic Electron-Proton and γ-Proton Scattering and the Structure of the Nucleon....Pages 305-312 Covariant harmonic oscillators and the parton picture....Pages 313-316 Valons and harmonic oscillators....Pages 317-319 Front Matter....Pages 321-321 Feynman Rules for Any Spin. II. Massless Particles....Pages 323-337 Photons and Gravitons in S -Matrix Theory: Derivation of Charge Conservation and Equality of Gravitational and Inertial Mass....Pages 338-345 E(2)-like little group for massless particles and neutrino polarization as a consequence of gauge invariance....Pages 346-354 Front Matter....Pages 355-356 On the Contraction of Groups and Their Representations....Pages 357-371 Internal space-time symmetries of massive and massless particles....Pages 372-378 Eulerian parametrization of Wigner’s little groups and gauge transformations in terms of rotations in two-component spinors....Pages 379-386 Cylindrical group and massless particles....Pages 387-391 Front Matter....Pages 393-393 Localized States for Elementary Systems....Pages 395-401 On the Localizability of Quantum Mechanical Systems....Pages 402-429 Uncertainty relations for light waves and the concept of photons....Pages 430-439 Front Matter....Pages 441-442 Precession of the Polarization of Particles Moving in a Homogeneous Electromagnetic Field....Pages 443-446 Is there a Link between Gauge Invariance, Relativistic Invariance and Electron Spin?....Pages 447-457 Front Matter....Pages 441-442 Special Relativity and Diagonal Transformations....Pages 458-462 A Useful Form of the Minkowski Diagram....Pages 463-467 SU(2) and SU(1,1) interferometers....Pages 468-489 Thomas precession, Wigner rotations and gauge transformations....Pages 490-496 Linear canonical transformations of coherent and squeezed states in the Wigner phase space....Pages 497-504 Back Matter....Pages 505-505