arXiv:hep-ph/9503416·v1·High Energy Physics — Phenomenology
The Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation
John P. Costella🇦🇺 · Bruce H. J. McKellar (School of Physics, The University of Melbourne)🇦🇺
Abstract
The Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation of the Dirac Hamiltonian is generally taught as simply a mathematical trick that allows one to obtain a two-component theory in the low-energy limit. It is not often emphasized that the transformed representation is the only one in which one can take a meaningful *classical limit*, in terms of particles and antiparticles. We briefly review the history and physics of this transformation.
Comments: Standard LaTeX, 6 pages