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arXiv:0904.1294 · Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical

Foldy–Wouthuysen transformation for a spinning particle with anomalous magnetic moment

A Barducci, R. Giachetti, Giulio Pettini

Published Aug 12, 2009• 5 citations
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Abstract

In this paper we study the Foldy–Wouthuysen transformation for a pseudoclassical particle with anomalous magnetic moment in an external classical stationary electromagnetic field. We show that the transformation can be expressed in a closed form for neutral particles in purely electrostatic fields and for neutral and charged particles in external magnetostatic fields. The explicit expressions of the diagonalized Hamiltonians are calculated.

DOI
10.1088/1751-8113/42/35/355302

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In this paper we study the Foldy–Wouthuysen transformation for a pseudoclassical particle with anomalous magnetic moment in an external classical stationary electromagnetic field. We show that the transformation can be expressed in a closed form for neutral particles in purely electrostatic fields and for neutral and charged particles in external magnetostatic fields. The explicit expressions of the diagonalized Hamiltonians are calculated.
In recent times there has been a renewed interest in the force experienced by a charged-particle with anomalous magnetic moment in the presence of external fields. In this paper we address the basic question of the force experienced by a spin-1/2 point-like charged-particle with magnetic and electric moments in the presence of space-and time-dependent external electromagnetic fields, when derived from the Dirac equation {\em via} the Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation technique. It is interesting to note that the force thus derived differs from the ones obtained by various other prescriptions.
The Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation for relativistic spin-1 particles interacting with nonuniform electric and uniform magnetic fields is performed. The Hamilton operator in the Foldy-Wouthuysen representation is determined. It agrees with the Lagrangian obtained by Pomeransky, Khriplovich, and Sen'kov. The classical and quantum formulae for the Hamiltonian agree. The validity of the Corben-Schwinger equations is confirmed. However, it is difficult to generalize these equations in order to take into account the quadrupole moment defined by a particle charge distribution. The known second-order wave equations are not quite satisfactory because they contain non-Hermitian terms. The Hermitian second-order wave equation is derived.
The exact exponential Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation operator applicable for a particle with an arbitrary spin is derived. It can be successfully utilized for verifying any Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation method based on the exponential operator. When a verified method is relativistic, the relativistic exponential operator should be expanded in the semirelativistic power series. The obtained exponential operator can be also used for a derivation of the Foldy-Wouthuysen Hamiltonian and its comparison with Hamiltonians found by other methods. This procedure makes it possible to check the validity of any other method of the Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation.
A canonical transformation similar to that given by Foldy and Wouthuysen is obtained for the spin zero and one theories. For free particles positive and negative charge states are separately described by one or three component wave functions. It is found that the resulting forms for operators and the non-relativistic limits are quite similar to that for spin \textonehalf{}. The resulting similarity is found to carry over to still higher spins. Particles moving in magnetic fields are described most simply using the transformed representation.