Charged particles with electromagnetic interactions and U(1)-gauge theory: Hamiltonian and Lagrangian formalisms

Abstract

The motion of charged particles in external electromagnetic fields is reviewed with the purpose of determining the whole set of constants of motion. The Johnson-Lippmann results concerning the interaction with a constant magnetic field are taken as the starting point of the study. Our results are obtained through simple group-theoretical arguments based essentially on extended Lie algebras associated with the kinematical group of the (constant) electromagnetic field involved in the interaction. Nonrelativistic Schr\"odinger (or Pauli) and relativistic Dirac Hamiltonians are considered. The corresponding Lagrangian densities are then studied when the charged particles move in arbitrary electromagnetic fields. Through Noether's theorem, we get the constants of motion when coordinate and gauge transformations are combined. These results complete the U(1)-gauge theory and relate the works of Bacry, Combe, and Richard and of Jackiw and Manton when external gauge fields are considered. These developments enhance the minimal-coupling principle, the U(1)-gauge theory, and Noether's theorem.