relativistic wave equations

Before the creation of quantum field theory, physicists attempted to formulate versions of the Schrdinger equation which were compatible with special relativity. Such equations are called relativistic wave equations. The first such equation was discovered by Erwin Schrdinger himself; however, he realized that this equation, now called the Klein-Gordon equation, gave incorrect results when used to calculate the energy levels of hydrogen. Schrdinger discarded his relativistic wave equation, only to realize a few months later that its nonrelativistic limit (what is now called the Schrdinger equation) was still of importance.

List of relativistic wave equations

Klein-Gordon equation:describes a massless or massive spin-0 particle
Weyl equation: describes a massless spin-1/2 particle
Dirac equation: describes a massive Dirac particle
Majorana equation: describes a massive Majorana particle
Breit equation: describes two massive spin-1/2 particles interacting electromagnetically to first order in perturbation theory
Maxwell equations: describe a massless spin-1 particle
Proca equation: describes a massive spin-1 particle
Kemmer equation: an alternative equation for spin-1 particles
Rarita-Schwinger equation: describes a massive spin-3/2 particle
Bargmann-Wigner equations: describe free particles of arbitrary integral or half-integral spin
quantum field theory: describes relativistic quantum fields
Yang-Mills equation: describes a non-abelian gauge field
Yang-Mills-Higgs equation: describes a non-abelian gauge field coupled with a massive spin-0 particle

All the particle equations except the Breit equation are linear. The Yang-Mills and Yang-Mills-Higgs equations are non-linear.

Relativistic Wave Equations

List of relativistic wave equations

See also