[Physics] Conserved currents from Noether’s theorem

conservation-lawshomework-and-exerciseslagrangian-formalismnoethers-theoremsymmetry

I'm not sure if I understand the concept correctly. Given an infinitesimal transformation

$$\phi \rightarrow \phi + \alpha \Delta\phi$$

the change in the Lagrangian density $\mathcal{L}(\phi,\partial_\mu \phi)$ is

$$\mathcal{L} \rightarrow \mathcal{L} + \alpha \Delta\mathcal{L}$$

For the transformation to be a symmetry, the new Lagrangian can differ only by a four-divergence so that

$$\Delta\mathcal{L} = \partial_\mu J^\mu$$

for some four-vector $J^\mu$.

Now, we have, using E.L. equations, the identity

$$\partial_\mu J^\mu = \partial_\mu\left( \frac{\partial \mathcal{L}}{\partial(\partial_\mu\phi)}\Delta\phi\right)$$

From which finally the "conserved current" is:

$$j^\mu \equiv J^\mu-\frac{\partial \mathcal{L}}{\partial(\partial_\mu\phi)}\Delta\phi$$

Anyway, I'm trying to do a calculation for a concrete example of the Lagrangian $\mathcal{L} = \frac{1}{2} \partial_\mu \phi \partial^\mu \phi$ and transformation $\phi \rightarrow \phi + \alpha$ for constant $\alpha$.

For this, $\Delta\mathcal{L} = 0 = \partial_\mu J^\mu$. Also $\Delta\phi = 1$. So

$$\frac{\partial \mathcal{L}}{\partial(\partial_\mu\phi)}\Delta\phi = \partial^\mu \phi$$

And

$$j^\mu = J^\mu – \partial^\mu \phi$$

Peskin & Schroeder say that the conserved current is just $j^\mu = \partial^\mu \phi$. I suppose this is because it's defined up to a 4-divergence. So in this case $J^\mu$ can be omitted and also the minus sign doesn't matter since it's defined up to a multiplicative constant as well.

Please correct my understanding of this. What I'm having most trouble understanding here is how the different objects are defined 'up to' something.

Best Answer

For the given case since $\partial _\mu J^{\mu} = 0$, there is no need of adding this boundary term to the conserved current $j^{\mu}$ as the addition of it is meaningless as it won't play any part except adding up to a meaningless factor. We already have for the equation of the conserved current $\partial_{\mu} j^{\mu} = 0$ and we can choose to add any term $a^{\mu}$ to $j^{\mu}$ as long as it satisfies $\partial _{\mu} a^{\mu} = 0$. Hence it is really irrelevant to have the $J^{\mu}$ part.

As for the second part of the question, you are right in saying that the minus sign can be omitted as it is defined upto a multiplicative constant.