Short-scale quantum kinetic theory including spin-orbit interactions

Abstract

We present a quantum kinetic theory for spin-$1/2$ particles, including the spin-orbit interaction, retaining particle dispersive effects to all orders in $\hslash$, based on a gauge-invariant Wigner transformation. Compared to previous works, the spin-orbit interaction leads to a new term in the kinetic equation, containing both the electric and magnetic fields. Like other models with spin-orbit interactions, our model features "hidden momentum". As an example application, we calculate the dispersion relation for linear electrostatic waves in a magnetized plasma, and electromagnetic waves in a unmagnetized plasma. In the former case, we compare the Landau damping due to spin-orbit interactions to that due to the free current. We also discuss our model in relation to previously published works.

13 pages, 1 figure

References in corpus (8)

• Effects of the $g$-factor in semi-classical kinetic plasma theory
• A linearized kinetic theory of spin-1/2 particles in magnetized plasmas
• Semiclassical Vlasov and fluid models for an electron gas with spin effects
• Fully relativistic kinetic equation for spin-1/2 particles in the long scale-length approximation
• Solid state plasmas
• Phase space methods for the spin dynamics in condensed matter systems
• Relativistic quantum plasma dispersion functions
• Nonlinear wave damping due to multi-plasmon resonances

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Wave-particle interactions in quantum plasmas