Spin and localization of relativistic fermions and uncertainty relations

Abstract

We discuss relations between several relativistic spin observables and derive a Lorentz-invariant characteristic of a reduced spin density matrix.A relativistic position operator that satisfies all the properties of its nonrelativistic analog does not exist. Instead we propose two causality-preserving positive operator-valued measures (POVMs) that are based on projections onto one-particle and antiparticle spaces, and on the normalized energy density. They predict identical expectation values for position. The variances differ by less than a quarter of the squared de Broglie wavelength and coincide in the nonrelativistic limit. Since the resulting statistical moment operators are not canonical conjugates of momentum, the Heisenberg uncertainty relations need not hold. Indeed, the energy density POVM leads to a lower uncertainty. We reformulate the standard equations of the spin dynamics by explicitly considering the charge-independent acceleration, allowing a consistent treatment of backreaction and inclusion of a weak gravitational field.

Final version. The presentation is streamlined. Thanks to the referees it can now be also used as a brief review

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Cited by in corpus (8)

• Recent progress on the description of relativistic spin: vector model of spinning particle and rotating body with gravimagnetic moment in General Relativity
• Position and spin in relativistic quantum mechanics
• Relativistic electron spin dynamics in a strong unipolar laser field
• Lorentz-Covariant Spin Operator for Spin 1/2 Massive Fields As a Physical Observable
• Lorentz-covariance of Position Operator and its Eigenstates for a massive spin $1/2$ field
• Proper relativistic position operators in 1+1 and 2+1 dimensions
• Precision in estimating Unruh temperature
• Localization of scalar quantum fields on Minkowski space-time