Relativistic Definition of Spin Operators

Physics

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Scientific paper

Some years ago Mashhoon [1] made the highly interesting suggestion that there existed a coupling of spin with rotations, just as there exists such a coupling with orbital angular momentum, as seen in the Sagnac effect, for example. Spin being essentially a quantum phenomenon, the obvious place to look for this was by studying the Dirac equation, and Hehl and Ni, in such an investigation [2], indeed found a coupling term of just the type Mashhoon had envisaged. Part of their procedure, however, was to take the nonrelativistic limit, and this was done by performing appropriate Foldy-Wouthuysen (FW) transformations. In the nonrelativistic limit, it is well-known that the spin operators for Dirac particles are in essence the Pauli matrices; but it is also well-known, and indeed was part of the motivation for Foldy and Wouthuysen's paper, that for fully-fledged Dirac particles the (4×4 generalisation of the) Pauli matrices do not yield satisfactory spin operators, since spin defined in this way would not be conserved. The question therefore presented itself: is there a relativistic spin operator for Dirac particles, such that in the relativistic, as well as the nonrelativistic, régime a Mashhoon spin-rotation coupling exists?...

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