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arXiv:2411.14523 · Physical review. D/Physical review. D.

Relativistic QFT description for the interaction of a spin with a magnetic field

Ruhi Shah, Eduardo Martín-Martínez, Tales Rick Perche

Published Feb 28, 2025• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We analyze how nonrelativistic effective models for the magnetic coupling of a spin to the electromagnetic field (proportional to $\stackrel{^}{\mathbit{\ensuremath{\sigma}}}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}\mathbit{B}$) emerge from a full quantum field theoretical description of charged fermionic fields with the quantum electromagnetic field. This allows us to keep track of relativistic corrections to the models commonly used in experimental spin physics. We discuss how this interaction compares to the usual simplified models used in relativistic quantum information.

DOI
10.1103/physrevd.111.044075

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We analyze how nonrelativistic effective models for the magnetic coupling of a spin to the electromagnetic field (proportional to \stackrel{^}{\mathbit{\ensuremath{\sigma}}}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}\mathbit{B}) emerge from a full quantum field theoretical description of charged fermionic fields with the quantum electromagnetic field. This allows us to keep track of relativistic corrections to the models commonly used in experimental spin physics. We discuss how this interaction compares to the usual simplified models used in relativistic quantum information.
In a purely nonrelativistic formulation, a Hamiltonian is obtained for the description of states of a charged particle with spin, interacting with an external electromagnetic field. For the specific cases of spin-1/2 and spin-1, the simplest choices for the Hamiltonian functions lead to a value for the (lowest order) intrinsic magnetic moment equal to the Bohr magneton in both cases. This is the same as is obtained in treatments that start from a relativistic formulation, as in the Dirac theory. The nonrelativistic and relativistic formulations both employ the ‘‘minimal coupling principle,’’ but the resulting Hamiltonians with couplings are, for very general considerations, not completely determined. However, the corresponding ambiguity that occurs in the nonrelativistic theory is also present in the relativistic formulation. The simpler nonrelativistic theory is more transparent in exhibiting these features of the problem and dispels the notion that spin (and the associated magnetic moment) require relativistic formulations for a proper understanding.
It is natural to expect that the electromagnetic spin-spin interaction has roots in a more fundamental theory: quantum electrodynamics in this case. To show this, we take the non-relativistic limit of the Dirac-Maxwell Lagrangian, using the Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation and derive the Breit interaction by an alternative approach. By adding the Pauli term (i.e., a higher-order interaction between spin and the electromagnetic field), we calculate the correction terms to electromagnetic spin-spin interactions in the non-relativistic limit. Finally, we study some of the physical effects of these terms regarding spin-spin interactions and spin-spin entanglements. Accordingly, we provide theoretical estimates that are not yet accessible with current experiments.
We describe here the coherent formulation of electromagnetism in the nonrelativistic quantummechanical many-body theory. We use the mathematical frame of the field theory and its quantization in the spirit of the QED. This is necessary because of the manifold of misinterpretations emerging from the hystorical development of quantum mechanics, starting from the Schrödinger equation of a single particle in the presence of given electromagnetic fields, followed by the many-body theories of many charged identical particles having just Coulomb interactions inspired from the classical electromagnetic theory of point-like charges. However, this later is known to be inconsistent due to the self-interaction. This way could not be continued further to include properly the magnetic forces between the charged particles and lead to a lot of confusion about the interpretation of the magnetic field in the Hamiltonian, as well as about the gauge invariance. We emphasize the importance of the distinction between the applied (external fields) and the field in the matter. All these problems are length properly solved within the non-relativistic QED, nevertheless the confusion dominates in all the problems related to the magnetic properties of the solid state.
We introduced a new model to present the states of a two-state quantum system. The space is the complexified Minkowski space. The Lorentz group acts by the linear extension of its action on the four-vectors. We applied this model to represent the spin state of an electron or any relativistic spin 1/2 particle. The spin state of such particle is of the form U+iS, where U is the four-velocity of the particle in the lab frame, and S is the 4D spin in this frame. Under this description, the transition probability between two pure spin states ϱ1 and ϱ2 of particles moving with the same velocity are defined by use of Minkowski dot product as 12<ϱ2|ϱ1>. This transition probability is Lorentz invariant, coincide with the quantum mechanics prediction and thus agree with the experimental results testing quantum mechanics predictions based on Bell’s inequality. For a a particle of mass m and charge q with the spin state ϱ, the total momentum is mcϱ and the electromagnetic momentum is qϱ. This imply that the Landé g factor for such particles must be g=2. We obtain an evolution equation of the spin state in an electromagnetic field which defines correctly the anomalous Zeeman effect and the fine structure splitting.
In this article we present a detailed description, using ladder operators, of an electron in a uniform magnetic field evolving under the Schrödinger equation.We go on to describe the same physical system in terms of relativistic quantum mechanics using the Dirac equation and to compare the two models in detail.The main differences between these two quantum mechanical approaches are discussed and we observe specifically how the relativistic phenomena modify the description of this particular quantum system by isolating effects which only exist in the relativistic model.