dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaSlower-than-Light Spin-1/2 Particles Endowed with Negative Mass Squared
| Authors | Giovanni Salesi |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0203083 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0203083 |
| DOI | 10.1142/S0217751X97002723 |
| Journal | Int. J. Mod. Phys. A28 (1997) 5103 |
Abstract
Extending in a straightforward way the standard Dirac theory, we study a quantum mechanical wave-equation describing free spinning particles --which we propose to call "Pseudotachyons" (PT's)-- which behave like tachyons in the momentum space, but like subluminal particles (v<c) in the ordinary space. This is allowed since, as it happens in every quantum theory for spin-1/2 particles, the momentum operator (that is conserved) and the velocity operator (that is not) are independent operators, which refer to independent quantities. As a consequence, at variance with ordinary Dirac particles, for PT's the average velocity is not equal to the classical velocity, but actually to the velocity "dual" of the classical velocity. The speed of PT's is therefore smaller than the speed of light. Since a lot of experimental data seems to involve a negative mass squared for neutrinos, we suggest that these particles might be PT's, travelling, because of their very small mass, at subluminal speeds very close to c. The present theory is shown to be separately invariant under the C, P, T transformations; the covariance under Lorentz transformations is also proved. Furthermore, we derive the kinematical constraints linking 4-impulse, 4-velocity and 4-polarization of free PT's
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"abstract": "Extending in a straightforward way the standard Dirac theory, we study a\nquantum mechanical wave-equation describing free spinning particles --which we\npropose to call \"Pseudotachyons\" (PT\u0027s)-- which behave like tachyons in the\nmomentum space, but like subluminal particles (v\u003cc) in the ordinary space. This\nis allowed since, as it happens in every quantum theory for spin-1/2 particles,\nthe momentum operator (that is conserved) and the velocity operator (that is\nnot) are independent operators, which refer to independent quantities. As a\nconsequence, at variance with ordinary Dirac particles, for PT\u0027s the average\nvelocity is not equal to the classical velocity, but actually to the velocity\n\"dual\" of the classical velocity. The speed of PT\u0027s is therefore smaller than\nthe speed of light. Since a lot of experimental data seems to involve a\nnegative mass squared for neutrinos, we suggest that these particles might be\nPT\u0027s, travelling, because of their very small mass, at subluminal speeds very\nclose to c. The present theory is shown to be separately invariant under the C,\nP, T transformations; the covariance under Lorentz transformations is also\nproved. Furthermore, we derive the kinematical constraints linking 4-impulse,\n4-velocity and 4-polarization of free PT\u0027s",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0203083",
"authors": [
"Giovanni Salesi"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1142/S0217751X97002723",
"journal_ref": "Int. J. Mod. Phys. A28 (1997) 5103",
"title": "Slower-than-Light Spin-1/2 Particles Endowed with Negative Mass Squared",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0203083"
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