- Open Access
Dirac states from the ’t Hooft model
Phys. Rev. D 113, 016023 – Published 28 January, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/g13x-2913
Abstract
The dynamics of a light fermion bound to a heavy one is expected to be described by the Dirac equation with an external potential. The potential breaks translation invariance, whereas the bound state momentum is well defined. Boosting the bound state determines the frame dependence of the light fermion dynamics. I study the Dirac limit of in the limit of . The light quark wave function turns out to be independent of the frame of the bound state, up to an irrelevant Lorentz contraction. The discrete bound state spectrum determines corresponding discrete energies of the Dirac equation, which for a linear potential allows a continuous spectrum.
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Article Text
References (12)
- P. A. M. Dirac, Proc. R. Soc. A A117, 610 (1928); A118, 351 (1928).
- S. J. Brodsky, Atomic physics and astrophysics. Vol. 1. Brandeis University Summer Institute in Theoretical Physics, Report No. SLAC-PUB-1010, 1971, https://inspirehep.net/literature/67494.
- F. Gross, Phys. Rev. C 26, 2203 (1982).
- A. Neghabian and W. Gloeckle, Can. J. Phys. 61, 85 (1983).
- M. Järvinen, Phys. Rev. D 71, 085006 (2005).
- G. ’t Hooft, Nucl. Phys. B75, 461 (1974).
- I. Bars and M. B. Green, Phys. Rev. D 17, 537 (1978).
- P. Hoyer, Phys. Rev. D 111, 074021 (2025).
- Y. S. Kalashnikova and A. V. Nefediev, Phys. At. Nucl. 62, 323 (1999), https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/9711347.
- M. S. Plesset, Phys. Rev. 41, 278 (1932).
- P. Hoyer, Journey to the Bound States, SpringerBriefs in Physics (Springer, New York, 2021), 10.1007/978-3-030-79489-7.
- D. D. Dietrich, P. Hoyer, and M. Järvinen, Phys. Rev. D 87, 065021 (2013).