The implications of noninertial motion on covariant quantum spin

Abstract

It is shown that the Pauli-Lubanski spin vector defined in terms of curvilinear co-ordinates does not satisfy Lorentz invariance for spin-1/2 particles in noninertial motion along a curved trajectory. The possibility of detecting this violation in muon decay experiments is explored, where the noninertial contribution to the decay rate becomes large for muon beams with large momenta and trajectories with radius of curvature approaching the muon's Compton wavelength scale. A new spacelike spin vector is derived from the Pauli-Lubanski vector that satisfies Lorentz invariance for both inertial and noninertial motion. In addition, this spin vector suggests a generalization for the classification of spin-1/2 particles, and has interesting properties that are applicable for both massive and massless particles.

REVTeX file; 7 pages; 2 figures; slightly revised with new abstract; accepted for publication in Classical and Quantum Gravity

References in corpus (2)

• Helicity Precession of Spin-1/2 Particles in Weak Inertial and Gravitational Fields
• Gravitationally induced electromagnetism at the Compton scale

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Lagrangian for Frenkel electron and position's non-commutativity due to spin
• Frenkel electron and a spinning body in a curved background
• Effects of Space-Time Curvature on Spin-1/2 Particle Zitterbewegung
• Breakdown of Lorentz Invariance for Spin-1/2 Particle Motion in Curved Space-Time with Applications to Muon Decay
• Breakdown of Casimir Invariance in Curved Space-Time
• General Relativistic Center-of-Mass Coordinates for Composite Quantum Particles
• Local Space-Time Curvature Effects on Quantum Orbital Angular Momentum
• Signatures of Noncommutative Geometry in Muon Decay for Nonsymmetric Gravity
• Is There an Observable Limit to Lorentz Invariance at the Compton Wavelength Scale?