Open AccessCan particle appearance or disappearance be described by a quantum mechanical theory?
Author(s) -
John R. Fanchi
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/1956/1/012007
Subject(s) - quantum field theory , physics , quantum , classical mechanics , invariant (physics) , quantum dissipation , theoretical physics , quantum mechanics
A common justification for replacing quantum mechanics with quantum field theory (QFT) is that the appearance or disappearance of particles cannot be described using quantum mechanics. We show that this justification for QFT is not generally true by presenting a counterexample: parametrized relativistic quantum mechanics (pRQM). We begin by outlining a pioneering formulation of QFT that includes an invariant evolution parameter. The introduction of an invariant evolution parameter helped guide the development of QFT and is a characteristic feature of pRQM. We then present a probabilistic formulation of pRQM that highlights features of the theory that make it suitable for modelling particle stability. Two examples of particle stability are then presented within the context of pRQM to show that a quantum mechanical theory can be applied to particle stability. The examples considered in this paper are exponential particle decay and neutrino oscillations.