2020
DOI: 10.1103/physreva.101.032117
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Position and spin in relativistic quantum mechanics

Abstract: 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 conventiona… Show more

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Cited by 43 publications
(62 citation statements)
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References 144 publications
(385 reference statements)
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“…Note that in the Dirac representation the main part of these operators will not be pure matrix. The usefulness of the Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation is demonstrated recently in [29,30] and in our above mentioned papers as well.…”
Section: Briefly On Application To Symmetry Analysismentioning
confidence: 61%
“…Note that in the Dirac representation the main part of these operators will not be pure matrix. The usefulness of the Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation is demonstrated recently in [29,30] and in our above mentioned papers as well.…”
Section: Briefly On Application To Symmetry Analysismentioning
confidence: 61%
“…As we have mentioned above, various relativistic spin operators have been discussed in the literature, and there is still controversy about which operator can correctly describe the relativistic electron spin. Now let's analyze some conclusions in the literature in detail [23]. We know that for a free Dirac particle, its space-time symmetry can be described by Poincaré group.…”
Section: Basic Equation and Spin Operators For A Free Dirac Particlementioning
confidence: 99%
“…Seven proposals for the relativistic spin operators are summarized in reference [31] and their properties are analyzed mathematically. Although the FW spin operator corresponding to the classical spin vector is considered to be the correct operator to describe the relativistic electron spin in many cases [18,23], the electron in the fully relativistic laser field is usually extremely relativistic and other operators cannot be completely excluded. For this reason, we consider five spin operators which are more likely to describe the real physical spin of a relativistic electron, i.e.…”
Section: Namementioning
confidence: 99%
“…For a quantum-mechanical description of particles in such frames, it is convenient to apply the Foldy-Wouthuysen (FW) representation providing for the Schrödinger picture of relativistic quantum mechanics (see Refs. [32,33] and references therein). The relativistic FW Hamiltonian describing a spin-1/2 particle in the frame uniformly rotating with the angular velocity ω has the form [34]…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The corresponding relativistic FW Hamiltonian has been obtained in Refs. [33,54,55]. It contains spinindependent and spin-dependent terms and is the same for untwisted and twisted spin-1/2 particles.…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%