Classical and quantal Lorentz covariant models of the electromagnetic radiation field

Abstract

We present Lorentz covariant models of the radiation field, i.e., plane wave solutions of the Maxwell equations satisfying the Coulomb gauge condition. The theory is constructed along traditional lines. We apply the interpretation of the field as a collection of photons and starts by constructing the state space of the photon. The novelty of this formulation is the use of a new action of the Lorentz group on the space of circular helicities of spin 1 which permits the construction of an action on the state space of the photon. Moreover, the generators of the action provide objects that can be used to construct the field observables both in the classical and quantum case. The result is a theory with a tight structure. It is a generalization of the standard theory, a covariant generalization, and it contains this as a special case.