[Physics] ‘Why’ is the Schrödinger equation non-relativistic

quantum mechanicsquantum-field-theoryschroedinger equationspecial-relativitywave-particle-duality

The transition amplitude for a particle currently in one spacetime point to appear up in another point doesn't respect causality which becomes one of the main reasons to abandon non-relativistic quantum mechanics. We impose the relativistic Hamiltonian $H=\sqrt{c^2p^2+m^2c^4}$ to get the Klein–Gordon equation or more correctly "add" special relativity after 2nd quantizing to fields, which shows how antiparticles crop up and help in preserving causality in this case. Apart from that, the equation is not even Lorentz covariant, which proves it to be non-relativistic.

But why does this occur? I mean, the Schrödinger equation is consistent with the de Broglie hypothesis and the latter is so much consistent with relativity, that some books even offer a "derivation" of the same by equating $E=h\nu$ and $E=mc^2$ probably resulting from a misinterpretation of de Broglie's Ph.D. paper. (A derivation isn't exactly possible though). So, the Schrödinger equation should include relativity in it, right? But it doesn't… How does relativity vanish from the Schrödinger equation or did the de-Broglie hypothesis ever not "include" relativity in any way?

My suspicion—The "derivation" is not possible, so the common $\lambda=h/mv $ with m as the rest mass, doesn't include relativity in any way. End of story. Is this the reason or is there something else?

Best Answer

In non-relativistic Quantum Mechanics (NRQM), the dynamics of a particle is described by the time-evolution of its associated wave-function $\psi(t, \vec{x})$ with respect to the non-relativistic Schrödinger equation (SE) $$ \begin{equation} i \hbar \frac{\partial}{\partial t} \psi(t, \vec{x})=H \psi(t, \vec{x}) \end{equation} $$ with the Hamilitonian given by $H=\frac{\hat{p}^{2}}{2 m}+V(\hat{x}) .$ In order to achieve a Lorentz invariant framework (the SE is only Galilei NOT Lorentz invariant), a naive approach would start by replacing this non-relativistic form of the Hamiltonian by a relativistic expression such as $$ H=\sqrt{c^{2} \hat{p}^{2}+m^{2} c^{4}} $$ or, even better, by modifying the SE altogether such as to make it symmetric in $\frac{\partial}{\partial t}$ and the spatial derivative $\vec{\nabla} .$

However, the central insight underlying the formulation of Quantum Field Theory is that this is not sufficient. Rather, combining the principles of Lorentz invariance and Quantum Theory requires abandoning the single-particle approach of Quantum Mechanics.

  • In any relativistic Quantum Theory, particle number need not be conserved, since the relativistic dispersion relation $E^{2}=c^{2} \vec{p}^{2}+m^{2} c^{4}$ implies that energy can be converted into particles and vice versa. This requires a multi-particle framework.
  • This point is often a little bit hidden in books or lectures. Unitarity and causality cannot be combined in a single-particle approach: In Quantum Mechanics, the probability amplitude for a particle to propagate from position $\vec{x}$ to $\vec{y}$ is $$ G(\vec{x}, \vec{y})=\left\langle\vec{y}\left|e^{-\frac{i}{\hbar} H t}\right| \vec{x}\right\rangle $$ One can show that e.g. for the free non-relativistic Hamiltonian $H=\frac{\hat{p}^{2}}{2 m}$ this is non-zero even if $x^{\mu}=\left(x^{0}, \vec{x}\right)$ and $y^{\mu}=\left(y^{0}, \vec{y}\right)$ are at a spacelike distance. The problem persists if we replace $H$ by a relativistic expression in the SE.

Quantum Field Theory (QFT) solves both these problems by a radical change of perspective.

Remark 1: There are still some cases (however there are a lot subtleties), where one can use RQM in the single-particle approach. Then the SE is replaced by the e.g. Klein-Gordon equation. $$ (\Box+m^2)\;\psi(x)=0 $$ where $\psi(x)$ is still a wave-function.

Remark 2: The Schrödinger equation holds for SR. It's not the SE that fails, it's the non-relativistic Hamiltonian that fails. The Dirac equation is the SE, but with the Dirac Hamiltonian. The Schrodinger equation is valid. $$ i \hbar \frac{\partial \psi(x, t)}{\partial t}=\left(\beta m c^{2}+c \sum_{n=1}^{3} \alpha_{n} p_{n}\right) \psi(x, t)=H_\text{Dirac}\;\psi(x, t) $$