Does the fact that the positron exists in cosmic rays prove the existence of Dirac' s 'sea' of spin-paired electrons in space.
Asked
Active
Viewed 76 times
0
-
3Possible duplicate of What was missing in Dirac's argument to come up with the modern interpretation of the positron? – AccidentalFourierTransform Nov 03 '18 at 13:46
1 Answers
0
No, it does not, because the "sea" was an idea, not the solution.
Vladimir Kalitvianski
- 13,885
-
-
The operator solution for $\psi$ contained electrons and positrons on an equal footing. The actual occupation numbers of these particles are dictated with the initial (or boundary, or experimental) conditions which is the only right way to look at this problem. – Vladimir Kalitvianski Nov 03 '18 at 13:21
-
Ok, I was talking more about the practicalities of them showing up in cosmic rays and whether or not it's physical to think of such a sea producing them. – Sam Cottle Nov 03 '18 at 13:24