Abstract
The wave equations of free particles express the properties that depend on the general requirements of space–time symmetry. However, physical processes involving the particles depend on their interaction properties. The description of the electromagnetic interactions of particles in relativistic quantum theory can be effected by a generalization of the method used in classical non-relativistic quantum theory. This method is applicable to the description of electromagnetic interactions of particles that are not capable of strong interactions. These include electrons, and the wide domain of electron quantum electrodynamics is accessible to the existing theory. There are unstable particles, namely, the muons, which are not capable of strong interactions; they are described by the same quantum electrodynamics as the phenomena occurring in times short in comparison with their lifetime. This chapter discusses problems of quantum electrodynamics that fall within the scope of single-particle theory. These are the problems in which the number of particles is unchanged, and the interaction can be represented in terms of an external electromagnetic field. The wave equation of an electron in a given external field can be derived in the same way as in the nonrelativistic theory.
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