theory In the massless case , the Dirac equation reduces to the Weyl equation, which describes relativistic massless spin- particles. The theory acquires a second symmetry: see below. Physical interpretation Identification of observables The critical physical question in a quantum theory is this: what are the physically observable quantities defined by the theory? According to the postulates of quantum mechanics, such quantities are defined by Hermitian operators that act on the Hilbert space of possible states of a system. The eigenvalues of these operators are then the possible results of measuring the corresponding physical quantity. In the Schrödinger theory, the simplest such object is the overall Hamiltonian, which represents the total energy of the system. To maintain this interpretation on passing to the Dirac theory, the Hamiltonian must be taken to be where, as always, there is an implied summation over the twice-repeated index . This looks promising, because one can see by inspection the rest energy of the particle and, in the case of , the energy of a charge placed in an electric potential . What about the term involving the vector potential? In classical electrodynamics, the energy of a charge moving in an applied potential is Thus, the Dirac Hamiltonian is fundamentally distinguished from its classical counterpart, and one must take great care to correctly identify what is observable in this theory. Much of the apparently paradoxical behavior implied by the Dirac equation amounts to a misidentification of these observables. Hole theory The negative solutions to the equation are problematic, for it was assumed that the particle has a positive energy. Mathematically speaking, however, there seems to be no reason for us to reject the negative-energy solutions. Since they exist, they cannot simply be ignored, for once the interaction between the electron and the electromagnetic field is included, any electron placed in a positive-energy eigenstate would decay into negative-energy eigenstates of successively lower energy. Real electrons obviously do not behave in this way, or they would disappear by emitting energy in the form of photons. To cope with this problem, Dirac introduced the hypothesis, known as hole theory, that the vacuum is the many-body quantum state in which all the negative-energy electron eigenstates are occupied. This description of the vacuum as a "sea" of electrons is called the Dirac sea. Since the Pauli exclusion principle forbids electrons from occupying the same state, any additional electron would be