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Questions tagged [anticommutator]

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77 votes
6 answers
41k views

What is the connection between Poisson brackets and commutators?

The Poisson bracket is defined as: $$\{f,g\} ~:=~ \sum_{i=1}^{N} \left[ \frac{\partial f}{\partial q_{i}} \frac{\partial g}{\partial p_{i}} - \frac{\partial f}{\partial p_{i}} \frac{\partial g}{\...
0x90's user avatar
  • 3,366
12 votes
2 answers
5k views

Why are anticommutators needed in quantization of Dirac fields?

Why is the anticommutator actually needed in the canonical quantization of free Dirac field?
blueidea's user avatar
  • 335
15 votes
3 answers
6k views

The anticommutator of $SU(N)$ generators

For the Hermitian and traceless generators $T^A$ of the fundamental representation of the $SU(N)$ algebra the anticommutator can be written as $$ \{T^A,T^{B}\} = \frac{1}{d}\delta^{AB}\cdot1\!\!1_{d} +...
AltLHC's user avatar
  • 609
59 votes
7 answers
94k views

What is the Physical Meaning of Commutation of Two Operators?

I understand the mathematics of commutation relations and anti-commutation relations, but what does it physically mean for an observable (self-adjoint operator) to commute with another observable (...
adustduke's user avatar
  • 813
21 votes
2 answers
5k views

What is the meaning of the anti-commutator term in the uncertainty principle?

What is the meaning, mathematical or physical, of the anti-commutator term? $$\langle ( \Delta A )^{2} \rangle \langle ( \Delta B )^{2} \rangle \geq \dfrac{1}{4} \vert \langle [ A,B ] \rangle \vert^{2}...
Rodrigo Thomas's user avatar
18 votes
4 answers
6k views

Fermions, different species and (anti-)commutation rules

My question is straightforward: Do fermionic operators associated to different species commute or anticommute? Even if these operators have different quantum numbers? How can one prove this fact in a ...
Melquíades's user avatar
  • 1,109
6 votes
1 answer
1k views

Wrong sign anticommutation relation for the Dirac field?

Consider the Dirac Lagrangian $$\mathcal{L}=\psi ^{\dagger }\gamma ^{0}\left( \mathrm{i}\gamma ^{\rho }\partial _{\rho }-m\right) \psi .$$ The conjugate momenta to $\psi ^{a}$ are defined, as usual, ...
John Fredsted's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
2k views

What goes wrong when one tries to quantize a scalar field with Fermi statistics?

At the end of section 9 on page 49 of Dirac's 1966 "Lectures on Quantum Field Theory" he says that if we quantize a real scalar field according to Fermi statistics [i.e., if we impose Canonical ...
user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
4k views

A few simple questions about Grassmann numbers: commutation relations and derivatives

I'm trying to learn about Grassmann numbers from the book "Condensed Matter Field Theory" by Altland and Simons, but I am currently encountering some difficulties. I have several smaller questions ...
RogueDodecahedron's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
2k views

In QFT, why do fermions have to anticommute in order to insure causality?

I have seen this question and I believe I understand the answer to it. However, AFAIK, only for bosons the causality condition is a vanishing commutator. For fermions we expect the anticommutator $[\...
Konstantin Schubert's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
3k views

Matrix representation for fermionic annihilation operator

My guess it should look something like this: $ c_\sigma = (\left|0\right>\left<\uparrow\right|+\left|\downarrow\right>\left<\downarrow\uparrow\right|)\delta_{\sigma,\uparrow}+(\left|0\...
swish's user avatar
  • 464
26 votes
2 answers
14k views

What is the physical meaning of anti-commutator in quantum mechanics?

I gained a lot of physical intuition about commutators by reading this topic. What is the physical meaning of commutators in quantum mechanics? I have similar questions about the anti-commutators. ...
khalid's user avatar
  • 281
19 votes
1 answer
6k views

Making sense of the canonical anti-commutation relations for Dirac spinors

When doing scalar QFT one typically imposes the famous 'canonical commutation relations' on the field and canonical momentum: $$[\phi(\vec x),\pi(\vec y)]=i\delta^3 (\vec x-\vec y)$$ at equal times ($...
Danu's user avatar
  • 16.4k
11 votes
1 answer
16k views

Angular and linear momentum operators' commutation

Do linear and angular momentum operators commute? If I use the canonical commutation relations I get that they commute. Say, for $x$-component, $[p_x, L_x] = p_x y p_z - y p_z p_x - p_x z p_y + z p_y ...
MsTais's user avatar
  • 1,184
6 votes
3 answers
4k views

Is there an anticommutator relation for orbital angular momentum?

So I know that there are commutator relations for $L$ such as $[L_x,L_y] = i\hbar L_z$, but is there a relation for the anticommutator? For example, $L_xL_y + L_yL_x$?
ConfusedStudent's user avatar

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