The N- and 1-Time Classical Descriptions of N-Body Relativistic Kinematics and the Electromagnetic Interaction

Abstract

Given N relativistic scalar free particles described by N mass-shell first class constraints in their 8N-dimensional phase space, their N-time description is obtained by means of a series of canonical transformations to a quasi-Shanmugadhasan basis adapted to the constraints. Then the same system is reformulated on spacelike hypersurfaces: the restriction to the family of hyperplanes orthogonal to the total timelike momentum gives rise to a covariant intrinsic 1-time formulation called the "rest-frame instant form" of dynamics. The relation between the N- and 1-time descriptions, the mass spectrum of the system and the way to introduce mutual interactions among the particles are studied. Then the 1-time description of the isolated system of N charged scalar particles plus the electromagnetic field is obtained. The use of Grassmann variables to describe the charges together with the determination of the field and particle Dirac observables leads to a formulation without infinite self-energies and with mutual Coulomb interactions extracted from classical electromagnetic field theory. A comparison with the Feshbach–Villars Hamiltonian formulation of the Klein–Gordon equation is made. Finally a 1-time covariant formulation of relativistic statistical mechanics is found.