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Single-Particle Electrodynamics - Assassination Science

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All addition operations for arbitrary objects are assumed to be commutative,<br />

without need for this to be explicitly noted. No assumptions about<br />

commutativity of multiplication operations are made in the general case.<br />

A.6.1<br />

C-numbers and q-numbers<br />

Quantities that commute with all other quantities are referred to as c-numbers.<br />

Any quantity that is not a c-number is a q-number.<br />

A.6.2<br />

Commutators and anticommutators<br />

The commutator of two quantities A and B is defined to be AB − BA, and<br />

is denoted by brackets, thus:<br />

[A, B] ≡ AB − BA.<br />

(A.32)<br />

The anticommutator of two quantities A and B is defined to be AB + BA,<br />

and is denoted by braces, thus:<br />

{A, B} ≡ AB + BA.<br />

(A.33)<br />

Commutators and anticommutators may be collectively referred to as<br />

permutators. Quantities that are commutated or anticommutated are collectively<br />

referred to as being permutated.<br />

Indices may also be permutated:<br />

and<br />

A [α B β] ≡ A α B β − A β B α<br />

A {α B β} ≡ A α B β + A β B α .<br />

(A.34)<br />

(A.35)<br />

The permutated indices may be separated by an arbitrary number of intervening<br />

factors, and may be repeated for identical indices within the one<br />

341

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