Some remarks on quantum mechanics in a curved spacetime, especially for a Dirac particle

Abstract: Some precisions are given about the definition of the Hamiltonian operator H and its transformation properties, for a linear wave equation in a general spacetime. In the presence of time-dependent unitary gauge transformations, H as an operator depends on the gauge choice. The other observables of QM and their rates also become gauge-dependent unless a proper account for the gauge choice is done in their definition. We show the explicit effect of these non-uniqueness issues in the case of the Dirac equation in a general spacetime with the Schwinger gauge. We show also in detail why, the meaning of the energy in QM being inherited from classical Hamiltonian mechanics, the energy operator and its mean values ought to be well defined in a general spacetime.