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This is probably a stupid question but, I want to show that a Lagrangian written in field theory is Lorentz invariant WITHOUT using the Lorentz transformation representation / generators. I know we know that a Lorentz scalar is automatically Lorentz invariant, but, I want to show this by considering the coordinate expressions directly.

I.e to plug in :

$$t’=\gamma (t-\frac{vx}{c^2}),\qquad x’=\gamma(x-vt)\tag1$$

and expanding out the fields.

So I expand out $L[\phi(x,t), \partial_{\mu}\phi(x,t)] ->$ (where I just wrote $\phi(x,t)$, rather than $x^{\mu}$ just because of the transformation written as (1)).

1 )And then I think, for everything to be consistent, it should then come out that for L to be Lorentz-invariant $\phi$, as a function of $x$ and $t$, Taylor expanding out, would have to satisfy the known transformation laws for field theory $$g'^{\mu \nu}=\Lambda^{\mu}_{\alpha}\Lambda^{\nu}_{\beta}g^{\alpha \beta}=g^{\mu \nu}, (1) x'^{\mu}=\Lambda^{\mu}_{\alpha}x^{\alpha}.$$

Alternatively, I am looking for another way to motivate / derive the Lorentz representations $\Lambda$, without using the normal textbook way, which is an heuristic approach starting with rotations/matrix transformation, then satisfying the preservation of inner product, i.e. identity (1), and the anti-symmetry in index argument etc to form the parameters/generators. Instead I want to start with directly substituting in the coordinate changes under a boost and Taylor expanding out. Could someone point me to references on this sort of thing?

(since, in contrast to a Galilean invariant Lagranigan, where one has to uniquely decipher the way a wavefunction needs to transform in order to get Galilean invariance for the Lagrangian), the way fields transform are already predetermined.

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1 Answer 1

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Firstly, one should distinguish the Lagrange function from the Lagrangian density and the action.

The Lagrange density

The Lagrange density $\mathcal L$ is a function with imput values $(\phi, \partial \phi, x) \mapsto \mathcal L (\phi, \partial \phi, x)$ (Technically speaking, the Lagrange density is a function on some jet space, but this does not really matter here.) the Lagrange function $L$ and the the action $\mathcal S$.

Let us first regard $\phi$ and $\partial \phi$ not as fields and derivatives thereof but as abstract coordinates (of jet space). This is similar to $q$ and $p$ in phase space. A Lagrange density can be translation invariant in the sense, that does not explicitly depend on $x$ i.e.,

$$ \mathcal L (\phi, \partial \phi, x ) = \mathcal L (\phi, \partial \phi, x' )\tag{1}$$ for all $x'$.

Given a representation of the Lorentz group $\rho: SO(1,3)\times V \to V $ that acts on $\phi \in V$ we can ask for Lorentz invariance of $\mathcal L$ in the following sence $$\mathcal L(\rho(\Lambda) \phi, \tilde\rho(\Lambda)\partial \phi, x) = \mathcal L(\phi, \partial \phi, x)\,\tag{2}.$$ ( Here $\tilde \rho$ is an induced representation. E.g., if $\partial \phi = (\phi_{,\mu}, \phi_{,\alpha \beta}, \dots)$ the entries transform like partial derivatives of a $V$ valued function. E.g, $\phi_{,\mu} \mapsto \Lambda^{-1}{}^{\nu}{}_{\mu}\rho(\Lambda) \phi_{, \nu}$.)

These two properties can usually be checked easily by some index calculus.


Now let's look at a fields $\phi: \mathbb R^{1+3} \to V, x \mapsto \phi(x)$. We can define the following map

$$x \mapsto \mathcal L ( \phi(x), \partial \phi(x), x)$$

As the field $\phi$ is usually not Lorentz invariant ( $\phi(x) \neq \rho(\Lambda) \phi( \Lambda^{-1} x)$), above map is also not Lorentz invariant. I.e., $$ \mathcal L(\phi(\Lambda^{-1} x), \partial \phi(\Lambda^{-1} x), \Lambda^{-1} x) = L(\rho(\Lambda)\phi(\Lambda^{-1} x), \tilde \rho(\Lambda)\partial \phi(\Lambda^{-1} x), x) \neq \mathcal L(\phi(x), \partial \phi(x), x)\,.$$

The Lagrange function

Given some preferred time coordinate $t = x^0$ you can defined the Lagrange function by integrating over the spacelike dimensions $$ L(t) := \int_{\mathbb R^3} d^3 x \mathcal L(\phi(\vec x , t),\partial \phi (\vec x, t), \vec x, t)\,.$$

It can also be seen as functional $L(\phi, \partial \phi,t)$, where $\vec x \to \phi(\vec x)$ and $\vec x \to \partial(\vec x)$ are functions defined on space (technically they might need to satisfy certain constraint equations, e.g., the space like partial derivatives need to satisfy $\partial_a \phi(\vec x) = \phi_{,a}(x)$).

This functional is also not Lorentz invariant. It makes no sense to Lorentz transform $\vec x$ and therefore it makes no sense to Lorentz transform a field defined on space (and not space time) such as $\vec x \mapsto \phi(\vec x)$.

However, if $\mathcal L$ satisfies $(1)$ then $L(\phi, \partial \phi, t)$ does not explicitly depend on time and it is space translation invariant. I.e., if $\phi'(\vec x ) := \phi(x- \Delta x)$, $\partial \phi'(\vec x):= \partial \phi (x- \Delta x)$ then $$ L(\phi', \partial \phi', t) = L(\phi, \partial \phi, t)$$

Further, if $\mathcal L$ satisfies $(2)$, $L$ is invariant under translation in space and rotation in space, i.e., the Euclidean subgroup of the Poincaré transformations. That is, for $ \phi'(\vec x) := \rho(R)\phi(R^{-1}\vec x)$ and $\partial \phi'(\vec x) = \tilde \rho(R))\partial \phi(R^{-1} \vec x)$, we have $$ L(\phi', \partial \phi', t) = L(\phi, \partial \phi, t)$$

Both of these cases can be seen by using appliyng the transformations formula to the defining integral.

The action

the action is defined as

$$\mathcal S(\phi) := \int_{\mathbb R^{1+3}} dx^4 \mathcal L(\phi(x), \partial \phi(x), x) = \int_{\mathbb R} dt L(\phi(\cdot, t),\partial \phi(\cdot, t), t)\,.$$

If $\mathcal L$ satisfies $(1)$ and $(2)$ it follows from the integration formula that form $\phi'(x) = \rho(\Lambda )\phi(\Lambda^{-1}x - \Delta x)$ we have $$\mathcal S(\phi) = \mathcal S(\phi')$$. This is a consequence of the transformation formula for integrals.

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  • $\begingroup$ thanks for your reply. that may take me some time to digest. do you have a reference or two to help out? thanks $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 9, 2024 at 20:57
  • $\begingroup$ I don't understand what jet space is, this is a term I have never heard, but it's more confusing since the same notation is used for fields after. I think you are trying to give me hints and background as to what I suggest, plugging in x', t' into \phi is flawed; for the lagrange function which has been integrated over time this makes most sense, but I do not fully understand. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 10, 2024 at 16:51
  • $\begingroup$ Here, I think the jet space is given prior to help give more background, since you say 'functional is also not Lorentz invariant', but probably confuses things more... Maybe you are saying phi (x, t) should be phi (x^mu).not sure when you say "functional is also not Lorentz invariant. It makes no sense to Lorentz transform x⃗", you are saying it is because it is not Lorentz invariant it makes no sense?for a functional integrated over time, I think I get it. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 10, 2024 at 16:52
  • $\begingroup$ But what about the Lagrangian density and action, which may be Lorentz invariant- isn't any scalar in field theory Lorentz invariant, and a Larangian is a scalar? $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 10, 2024 at 16:52

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