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I have a question in derivation of Schwinger's proper time method in chapter 2.1 of

http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F3-540-45585-X

from Eq.(2.20)-Eq.(2.23) to the classical action expression after Eq.(2.23). I do not know how the second term comes out that includes $\frac{1}{4}(x'-x'')^{\alpha}e {F_{\alpha}}^{\beta}{[coth(e \mathbf{F} s)]_{\beta}}^{\gamma}(x'-x'')_{\gamma}$.I expect this term comes from the quadratic term $\frac{1}{4}\dot{x}^2$ in the Lagrangian but I just cannot extract out the above form.

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  • $\begingroup$ If you show what you've tried I bet someone will help you find your mistake. $\endgroup$
    – DanielSank
    Commented Oct 8, 2015 at 23:40
  • $\begingroup$ If one plug Eq(2.22) and Eq(2.23) into Eq(2.19) and Eq(2.20), it seems unlikely one will obtain $\frac{1}{4}(x'-x'')^{\alpha}e {F_{\alpha}}^{\beta}{[coth(e \mathbf{F} s)]_{\beta}}^{\gamma}(x'-x'')_{\gamma}$ from $1/4 \dot{x}^{\mu} \dot{x}_{\mu}$. $\endgroup$
    – qc2014
    Commented Oct 10, 2015 at 21:02
  • $\begingroup$ Minor comment to the post (v1): Please consider to mention explicitly author, title, etc. of link. $\endgroup$
    – Qmechanic
    Commented Oct 11, 2015 at 6:44

1 Answer 1

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The term you are asking about does come from the $\frac{1}{4}\dot{x}^\mu\dot{x}_\mu$ term of the Lagrangian.

Start by inserting the first of Eqs.(2.23) back into Eq.(2.22) to obtain the expression for $\dot{x}(\lambda)$: $$ \dot{x}(\lambda) = e^{2e{\bf F}\lambda}\dot{x}(0) = e^{2e{\bf F}\lambda}\frac{1}{e^{2e{\bf F}s} - 1} 2e{\bf F}\; (x' - x") = \frac{2e{\bf F}\; e^{2e{\bf F \lambda}} }{e^{2e{\bf F}s} - 1} \; (x' - x") $$ Now notice that the equation of motion $$ \ddot{x}^\mu(\lambda) = 2e {\bf F}^{\mu\nu} \dot{x}_\nu(\lambda) $$ implies $$ \ddot{x}^\mu(\lambda)\dot{x}_\mu(\lambda) = 2e\; \dot{x}_\mu(\lambda) {\bf F}^{\mu\nu} \dot{x}_\nu(\lambda) = 0 $$ and $$ \frac{d}{d\lambda}\left[ \dot{x}_\mu(\lambda)\dot{x}^\mu(\lambda) \right] = 2\; \ddot{x}^\mu(\lambda)\dot{x}_\mu(\lambda) = 0 $$ Hence we have
$$ \int_0^s{d\lambda \;\dot{x}_\mu(\lambda)\dot{x}^\mu(\lambda) } = s\; \dot{x}_\mu(0)\dot{x}^\mu(0) $$ But from the expression for $\dot{x}(\lambda)$ above we have $$ \dot{x}(0) = \frac{2e{\bf F}}{e^{2e{\bf F}s} - 1} \; (x' - x") = (x' - x") \frac{2e{\bf F}e^{2e{\bf F}s}}{e^{2e{\bf F}s} - 1} $$ where the last form on the right hand side follows from $F^{\mu\nu} (x'-x")_\nu = - (x'-x")_\nu F^{\nu\mu}$. With this the action integral term becomes $$ \int_0^s{d\lambda \;\dot{x}_\mu(\lambda)\dot{x}^\mu(\lambda) } = s\;(x' - x") \frac{2e{\bf F}e^{2e{\bf F}s}}{e^{2e{\bf F}s} - 1}\frac{2e{\bf F}}{e^{2e{\bf F}s} - 1} \; (x' - x") =\\ = (x' - x") e{\bf F}s \frac{4e{\bf F}e^{2e{\bf F}s}}{\left(e^{2e{\bf F}s} - 1\right)^2}\; (x' - x") = (x' - x") e{\bf F}s \frac{e{\bf F}}{\sinh^2(e{\bf F}s)}\; (x' - x") = \\ = - (x' - x")\; (e{\bf F}s) \frac{d}{d s}\coth(e{\bf F}s)\; (x' - x") $$ Assuming $x'$ and $x"$ are fixed, the last expression can be rearranged to obtain $$ \int_0^s{d\lambda \;\dot{x}_\mu(\lambda)\dot{x}^\mu(\lambda) } = (x' - x")\; e{\bf F} \coth(e{\bf F}s)\; (x' - x") - \frac{d}{d s} \left[(x' - x")\; (e{\bf F}s) \coth(e{\bf F}s)\; (x' - x") \right] $$ The first term is the one we are looking for. The second one is not only a total time derivative, but can also be rewritten as the integral of a total time derivative, since $$ \int_0^s{d\lambda \frac{d^2}{d \lambda^2} \left[(x' - x")\; (e{\bf F}\lambda) \coth(e{\bf F}\lambda)\; (x' - x") \right] } = \\ = \frac{d}{d s} \left[(x' - x")\; (e{\bf F}s) \coth(e{\bf F}s)\; (x' - x") \right] - \lim_{\lambda \rightarrow 0} \frac{d}{d \lambda} \left[(x' - x")\; (e{\bf F}\lambda) \coth(e{\bf F}\lambda)\; (x' - x") \right] $$ and $$ \lim_{\lambda \rightarrow 0} \frac{d}{d \lambda} \left[(x' - x")\; (e{\bf F}\lambda) \coth(e{\bf F}\lambda)\; (x' - x") \right] = 0 $$ But a term of the form $\int_0^s{d\lambda \frac{d^2}{d \lambda^2} \left[(x' - x")\; (e{\bf F}\lambda) \coth(e{\bf F}\lambda)\; (x' - x") \right] }$ would only add a total time derivative to the Lagrangian, so it can be safely discarded and the final result is $$ \int_0^s{d\lambda \;\dot{x}_\mu(\lambda)\dot{x}^\mu(\lambda) } = (x' - x")\; e{\bf F} \coth(e{\bf F}s)\; (x' - x") $$

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  • $\begingroup$ Hi, thanks for the answer. But there seems to be a mistake when you plug in $\dot{x}_{\mu}$. It seems to me the correct expression should be $\dot{x}(\lambda)_{\mu}={(\frac{2 e \mathbf{F} e^{2 e \mathbf{F} \lambda}}{e^{2 e \mathbf{F} s}-1})_{\mu}}^{\alpha} (x'-x'')_{\alpha}$, which turns out to give you a minus sign in $\mathbf{F}$ if you switch $\mu$ and $\alpha$. That is the point that confuses me in obtaining the correct result. $\endgroup$
    – qc2014
    Commented Oct 12, 2015 at 0:30
  • $\begingroup$ Errr... insert sheepish embarrassment here. Sorry, I fixed the proof. Should be fine now. $\endgroup$
    – udrv
    Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 6:40
  • $\begingroup$ Hi, thanks for writing the answer and I already accepted it. But I still have a concern on the total derivative term in your answer. If we just want to evaluate the classical action like what I asked in the question, I agree that it will be safe to discard it. But If we are interested in the evolution kernel defined as $<x'|U(s)|x''>$, I doubt that it will still make a contribution and that is actually the context in Schwinger's book. $\endgroup$
    – qc2014
    Commented Oct 14, 2015 at 5:12
  • $\begingroup$ Re: the propagator: Redefining the Lagrangian with a total time derivative leads to a change in the generator, but as far as I know it doesn't alter the equations of motion for observables. One can actually use this invariance to simplify the generator's expression, and I think this is the case here. $\endgroup$
    – udrv
    Commented Oct 14, 2015 at 20:58

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