Basic quantum mechanics for three Dirac equations in a curved spacetime

Abstract

We study the basic quantum mechanics for a fully general set of Dirac matrices in a curved spacetime by extending Pauli's method. We further extend this study to three versions of the Dirac equation: the standard (Dirac-Fock-Weyl or DFW) equation, and two alternative versions, both of which are based on the recently proposed linear tensor representations of the Dirac field (TRD). We begin with the current conservation: we show that the latter applies to any solution of the Dirac equation, iff the field of Dirac matrices γμ satisfies a specific PDE. This equation is always satisfied for DFW with its restricted choice for the γμ matrices. It similarly restricts the choice of the γμ matrices for TRD. However, this restriction can be achieved. The frame dependence of a general Hamiltonian operator is studied. We show that in any given reference frame with minor restrictions on the spacetime metric, the axioms of quantum mechanics impose a unique form for the Hilbert space scalar product. Finally, the condition for the general Dirac Hamiltonian operator to be Hermitian is derived in a general curved spacetime. For DFW, the validity of this hermiticity condition depends on the choice of the γμ matrices.