Monday, March 18, 2013

1303.3862 (Heiko Bauke et al.)

What is the relativistic spin operator?    [PDF]

Heiko Bauke, Sven Ahrens, Christoph H. Keitel, Rainer Grobe
Though the spin is regarded as a fundamental property of the electron there is no universally accepted spin operator within the frame work of relativistic quantum mechanics. We investigate the properties of different proposals for a relativistic spin operator. It is shown that most candidates are lacking essential features of proper angular momentum operators leading to spurious Zitterbewegung (quivering motion) or violating the angular momentum algebra. Only the Foldy-Wouthuysen operator and the Pryce operator qualify as proper relativistic spin operators. We demonstrate that ground states of highly charged hydrogen-like ions can be utilized to identify a legitimate relativistic spin operator experimentally.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1303.3862

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