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In A. Zee's QFT in a Nutshell, he defines the field for the Klein-Gordon equation as

$$ \tag{1}\varphi(\vec x,t) = \int\frac{d^Dk}{\sqrt{(2\pi)^D2\omega_k}}[a(\vec k)e^{-i(\omega_kt-\vec k\cdot\vec x)} + a^\dagger(\vec k)e^{i(\omega_kt-\vec k\cdot\vec x)}] $$

When calculating $\pi=\partial_0\varphi^\dagger$, I came to

$$ \tag{2}\varphi^\dagger(\vec x,t) = \int\frac{d^Dk}{\sqrt{(2\pi)^D2\omega_k}}[a^\dagger(\vec k)e^{i(\omega_kt-\vec k\cdot\vec x)} + a(\vec k)e^{-i(\omega_kt-\vec k\cdot\vec x)}] $$

But this would imply that $\varphi^\dagger=\varphi$. Is that correct?

(Intuitively it would make sense, because in QM we also consider self-adjoint operators.)

If it's correct, then why do we explicitly write $\pi=\partial_0\varphi^\dagger$ instead of just $\pi=\partial_0\varphi$? Why bother distinguishing $\varphi$ from $\varphi^\dagger$ at all?

In case it is not correct, then the first two equations of this answer are most likely wrong.

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    $\begingroup$ For neutral fields that is correct. If you want to keep the formalism as general as possible and include charged particles you really want to allow for non-selfadjoint fields. $\endgroup$
    – Phoenix87
    Commented Nov 11, 2015 at 11:07
  • $\begingroup$ Oh OK, makes sense. (if you want some rep, write that as an answer). $\endgroup$
    – Bass
    Commented Nov 11, 2015 at 11:09

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For a real scalar field I think what you have written is correct..But if you want to describe a complex scalar field then we need to distinguish between $\phi$ and $\phi^{\dagger}$...

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