Diamagnetic inequality

In mathematics and physics, the diamagnetic inequality relates the Sobolev norm of the absolute value of a section of a line bundle to its covariant derivative. The diamagnetic inequality has an important physical interpretation, that a charged particle in a magnetic field has more energy in its ground state than it would in a vacuum.^[1][2]

To precisely state the inequality, let ${\displaystyle L^{2}(\mathbb {R} ^{n})}$ denote the usual Hilbert space of square-integrable functions, and ${\displaystyle H^{1}(\mathbb {R} ^{n})}$ the Sobolev space of square-integrable functions with square-integrable derivatives. Let ${\displaystyle f,A_{1},\dots ,A_{n}}$ be measurable functions on ${\displaystyle \mathbb {R} ^{n}}$ and suppose that ${\displaystyle A_{j}\in L_{\text{loc}}^{2}(\mathbb {R} ^{n})}$ is real-valued, ${\displaystyle f}$ is complex-valued, and ${\displaystyle f,(\partial _{1}+iA_{1})f,\dots ,(\partial _{n}+iA_{n})f\in L^{2}(\mathbb {R} ^{n})}$. Then for almost every ${\displaystyle x\in \mathbb {R} ^{n}}$,

In particular, ${\displaystyle f\in H^{1}(\mathbb {R} ^{n})}$.

Proof[]

For this proof we follow Lieb and Loss.^[1] From the assumptions, ${\displaystyle \partial _{j}|f|\in L_{\text{loc}}^{1}(\mathbb {R} ^{n})}$ when viewed in the sense of distributions and

for almost every ${\displaystyle x}$ such that ${\displaystyle f(x)\neq 0}$ (and ${\displaystyle \partial _{j}|f|(x)=0}$ if ${\displaystyle f(x)=0}$). Moreover, So for almost every ${\displaystyle x}$ such that ${\displaystyle f(x)\neq 0}$. The case that ${\displaystyle f(x)=0}$ is similar.

Application to line bundles[]

Let ${\displaystyle p:L\to \mathbb {R} ^{n}}$ be a U(1) line bundle, and let ${\displaystyle A}$ be a connection 1-form for ${\displaystyle L}$. In this situation, ${\displaystyle A}$ is real-valued, and the covariant derivative ${\displaystyle \mathbf {D} }$ satisfies ${\displaystyle \mathbf {D} f_{j}=(\partial _{j}+iA_{j})f}$ for every section ${\displaystyle f}$. Here ${\displaystyle \partial _{j}}$ are the components of the trivial connection for ${\displaystyle L}$. If ${\displaystyle A_{j}\in L_{\text{loc}}^{2}(\mathbb {R} ^{n})}$ and ${\displaystyle f,(\partial _{1}+iA_{1})f,\dots ,(\partial _{n}+iA_{n})f\in L^{2}(\mathbb {R} ^{n})}$, then for almost every ${\displaystyle x\in \mathbb {R} ^{n}}$, it follows from the diamagnetic inequality that

The above case is of the most physical interest. We view ${\displaystyle \mathbb {R} ^{n}}$ as Minkowski spacetime. Since the gauge group of electromagnetism is ${\displaystyle U(1)}$, connection 1-forms for ${\displaystyle L}$ are nothing more than the valid electromagnetic four-potentials on ${\displaystyle \mathbb {R} ^{n}}$. If ${\displaystyle F=dA}$ is the electromagnetic tensor, then the massless Maxwell-Klein-Gordon system for a section ${\displaystyle \phi }$ of ${\displaystyle L}$ are

and the energy of this physical system is The diamagnetic inequality guarantees that the energy is minimized in the absence of electromagnetism, thus ${\displaystyle A=0}$.^[3]

See also[]

• Diamagnetism – Ordinary, weak, repulsive magnetism that all materials possess

Citations[]