On The Pauli-Weisskopf Anti-Dirac Paper

Abstract

We review in this article the role which the work of Pauli and Weisskopf played in formulating a quantum field theory of spinless particles. To make our computations as transparent as possible, we offer a physicist's derivation of the Klein-Gordon-Fock equation. Since invariant functions play a significant part in our paper, we will discuss them in great detail. We emphasize Pauli's and Weisskopf's view that Dirac's hole theory is totally obsolete in formulating a consistent quantum field theory, be it for scalar or spinor particles. As an important example we present the calculation for producing charged scalar particles in an external electric field.