The Thomas Precession Factor in Spin-Orbit Interaction

Abstract

The origin of the Thomas factor 1/2 in the spin-orbit hamiltonian can be understood by considering the case of a classical electron moving in crossed electric and magnetic fields chosen such that the electric Coulomb force is balanced by the magnetic Lorentz force.

PDF File, 5 pages, to appear in American Journal of Physics

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Induced spin filtering in electron transmission through chiral molecular layers adsorbed on metals with strong spin-orbit coupling
• Relativistic velocity space, Wigner rotation and Thomas precession
• Origin of the Spin-Orbit Interaction
• Kinetic description of vacuum $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ production in strong electric fields of arbitrary polarization