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arXiv:1206.3074

Relativistic spin operator and Dirac equation

Paweł Caban, Jakub Rembieliński, Marta Włodarczyk

Published Jun 14, 2012• 2 citations
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Abstract

We give a direct link between description of Dirac particles in the abstract framework of unitary representation of the Poincaré group and description with the help of the Dirac equation. In this context we discuss in detail the spin operator for a relativistic Dirac particle. We show also that the spin operator used in quantum field theory for spin $s=1/2$ corresponds to the Foldy-Woutheysen mean-spin operator.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1206.3074

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We give a direct link between description of Dirac particles in the abstract framework of unitary representation of the Poincaré group and description with the help of the Dirac equation. In this context we discuss in detail the spin operator for a relativistic Dirac particle. We show also that the spin operator used in quantum field theory for spin s=1/2s=1/2s=1/2 corresponds to the Foldy-Woutheysen mean-spin operator.
We give a direct link between covariant description of Dirac particles in the abstract framework of unitary representation of the Poincaré group and description with the help of the Dirac equation. In this context we discuss the spin operator for a relativistic Dirac particle. We show also that the spin operator used in quantum field theory for spin s = 1/2 corresponds to the Foldy-Wouthuysen mean-spin operator. We hope that this formalism will be useful in the theory of relativistic quantum information.
A systematic theory of the appropriate spin operators for the relativistic states is developed. This paper discusses it in particle case, i.e., the quantum mechanics problem. For a massive relativistic particle with arbitrary nonzero spin, the spin operator should be replaced with the relativistic one. In the frame of irreducible representation of Poincare group, this spin operator, which is named as moving spin and applied to all the canonical states of the particle, is constructed. Further discussion on the concept of moving spin in the quantum field theory will be followed.
The problem of the position and spin in relativistic quantum mechanics is analyzed in detail. It is definitively shown that the position and spin operators in the Foldy-Wouthuysen representation (but not in the Dirac one) are quantum-mechanical counterparts of the classical position and spin variables. The probabilistic interpretation is valid only for Foldy-Wouthuysen wave functions. The relativistic spin operators are discussed. The spin-orbit interaction does not exist for a free particle if the conventional operators of the orbital angular momentum and the rest-frame spin are used. Alternative definitions of the orbital angular momentum and the spin are based on noncommutative geometry, do not satisfy standard commutation relations, and can allow the spin-orbit interaction.
A relativistic spin operator is to be the difference between the total and orbital angular momentum. As the unique position operator for a localized state, the remarkable Newton-Wigner position operator, which has all desirable commutation relations as a position operator, can give a proper spin operator. Historically important three spin operators respectively proposed by Bogolubov et al., Pryce, and Foldy-Woutheysen are investigated to manifest a corresponding spin operator to the Newton-Wigner position operator. We clarify a unique spin operator in relativistic quantum mechanics described by the Dirac Hamiltonian.