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This is soft interlude question. I am rereading the Peskin & Schroeder's Quantum field theory, p.23, (2.38) and some question arises.

First, let's refer to Lorentz transformations for scalar fields in QFT --- Peskin and Schroder. There, the questioner asked that why the (2.37) and (2.38) in P&S are true and answered by Andrew McAddams.

Second, on the other hand, I tried to derive (2.38) in my own way as follows:

$1.$ $U(\Lambda) |p\rangle = U(\Lambda)(\sqrt{2E_p}a_p^{\dagger} |0 \rangle=\sqrt{2E_p} U(\Lambda)a_p^{\dagger} |0\rangle$

$2.$ $U(\Lambda)|p\rangle = |\Lambda p\rangle = \sqrt{2E_{\Lambda p}}a_{\Lambda p}^{\dagger} | 0 \rangle$

From 1 and 2 , we obtain $$U(\Lambda)a_p^{\dagger}= \sqrt{\frac{E_{\Lambda p}}{E_p}}a_{\Lambda p}^{\dagger}.$$

Does this argument also work? If not, where did I made mistake? Is there a point that I missing? If this is also true, why did the author express the relation (2.38) : $$ U(\Lambda) a^\dagger_p U^{-1}(\Lambda) = \sqrt{\frac{E_{\Lambda p}}{E_p}} a^\dagger_{\Lambda p}~? \tag{2.38}$$

Can anyone helps?

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    $\begingroup$ Recall that $U^{-1}(\Lambda)|0\rangle= |0\rangle$. $\endgroup$
    – mike stone
    Commented Aug 23, 2023 at 20:59
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks you. It sees that above two expressions are equivalent. And why your such equality is true? Where can I find related reference? $\endgroup$
    – Plantation
    Commented Aug 23, 2023 at 22:50
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    $\begingroup$ Note that 2.38 is an operator relationship. It doesn't follow from 1 and 2 because 1 and 2 only give the action of operators on a single state (or perhaps in your case, a subspace of the full Hilbert space). An operator relation must hold for every state. The relationship you derived is not correct in general, but is true when acting on the vacuum state, because of the property @mikestone pointed out. $\endgroup$
    – Andrew
    Commented Aug 24, 2023 at 2:03
  • $\begingroup$ O.K. It could be. Thanks for pointing out. And how about the proof of Andrew McAddams in the linked post (physics.stackexchange.com/questions/154673/…)? Is there no problem? IF every state can be constructed from vacuum, then it suffices to check the formula about operator for vacuum state? Perhaps, can you write more kind proof of the operator relationship for every state? $\endgroup$
    – Plantation
    Commented Aug 24, 2023 at 2:16

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