Acceleration of an unpolarized proton along a uniform magnetic field: Casimir momentum of leptons

Abstract

It has been recently shown that a chiral molecule accelerates linearly along a spatially uniform magnetic field, as a result of the parity-time symmetry breaking induced in its QED self-interaction. In this work we extend this result to fundamental particles which present EW self-interaction, in which case parity is violated by the EW interaction itself. In particular, we demonstrate that, in a spatially uniform and adiabatically time-varying magnetic field, an unpolarized proton coupled to the leptonic vacuum acquires a kinetic momentum antiparallel to the magnetic field, whereas virtual leptons gain an equivalent $Casimir$ $momentum$ in the opposite direction. That momentum is proportional to the magnetic field and to the square of Fermi's constant. We prove that the kinetic energy of the proton is a magnetic energy which forms part of its EW self-energy.

10-page main text, 7 appendices, 2 figures. This article partially supersedes arXiv:1810.12831

References in corpus (7)

• Casimir effect in Yang-Mills theory
• The dynamical Casimir effect in braneworlds
• New Quark Relations for Hadron Masses and Magnetic Moments - A Challenge for Explanation from QCD
• Constituent Quark Masses and the Electroweak Standard Model
• Statistical equilibrium and ion cyclotron absorption/emission in strongly magnetized plasmas
• Zero-point momentum in Complex media
• Transfer of linear momentum from the quantum vacuum to a magnetochiral molecule

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Stirring the quantum vacuum: Angular Casimir Momentum of a Landau Charge