THE DIRAC–HESTENES EQUATION FOR SPHERICAL SYMMETRIC POTENTIALS IN THE SPHERICAL AND CARTESIAN GAUGES

Abstract

In this paper, using the apparatus of the Clifford bundle formalism, we show how straightforwardly solve in Minkowski space–time the Dirac–Hestenes equation — which is an appropriate representative in the Clifford bundle of differential forms of the usual Dirac equation — by separation of variables for the case of a potential having spherical symmetry in the Cartesian and spherical gauges. We show that, contrary to what is expected at a first sight, the solution of the Dirac–Hestenes equation in both gauges has exactly the same mathematical difficulty.