Eur. Phys. J. C 19, 383-390
DOI: 10.1007/s100520100590
Boundary conditions as Dirac constraints
M.M. Sheikh-Jabbari1 and A. Shirzad1, 21 Institute for Studies in Theoretical Physics and Mathematics, IPM, P.O. Box 19395-5531, Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Physics, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran
(Received: 16 October 2000 / Revised version: 8 January 2001 / Published online: 23 February 2001 -© Springer-Verlag 2001)
Abstract
In this article we show that boundary conditions can be treated as Lagrangian and
Hamiltonian constraints.
Using the Dirac method, we find that boundary conditions are
equivalent to an
infinite
chain of second class constraints, which is a new feature in the context
of constrained
systems. Constructing the Dirac brackets and the reduced phase
space structure
for different boundary conditions, we show why mode expanding
and then
quantizing a field theory with boundary conditions is the proper way.
We also
show that in a
quantized field theory subjected to the mixed boundary conditions,
the field
components are non-commutative.
© Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2001