On The Pauli-Weisskopf Anti-Dirac Paper

TL;DR

This paper reviews the contributions of Pauli and Weisskopf to quantum field theory for spinless particles, emphasizing their rejection of Dirac's hole theory and providing detailed derivations and calculations.

Contribution

It offers a clear derivation of the Klein-Gordon-Fock equation and highlights the importance of invariant functions in scalar quantum field theory.

Findings

Rejection of Dirac's hole theory for scalar particles

Derivation of Klein-Gordon-Fock equation with transparency

Calculation of charged scalar particle production in electric fields

Abstract

We review in this article the role which the work of Pauli and Weisskopf played in formulating a quantum field theory of spinless particles. To make our computations as transparent as possible, we offer a physicist's derivation of the Klein-Gordon-Fock equation. Since invariant functions play a significant part in our paper, we will discuss them in great detail. We emphasize Pauli's and Weisskopf's view that Dirac's hole theory is totally obsolete in formulating a consistent quantum field theory, be it for scalar or spinor particles. As an important example we present the calculation for producing charged scalar particles in an external electric field.