dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaWhat is spin?
| Authors | Andre Gsponer |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0308027 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0308027 |
Abstract
This is a late answer to question #79 by R.I. Khrapko, "Does plane wave not carry a spin?," Am. J. Phys. /69/, 405 (2001), and a complement (on gauge invariance, massive spin 1 and 1/2, and massless spin 2 fields) to the paper by H.C. Ohanian, "What is spin?," Am. J. Phys. /54/, 500--505 (1985). In particular, it is confirmed that "spin" is a classical quantity which can be calculated for any field using its definition, namely that it is just the non-local part of the conserved angular momentum. This leads to explicit expressions which are bilinear in the fields and which agree with their standard "quantum" counterparts.
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"abstract": "This is a late answer to question #79 by R.I. Khrapko, \"Does plane wave not\ncarry a spin?,\" Am. J. Phys. /69/, 405 (2001), and a complement (on gauge\ninvariance, massive spin 1 and 1/2, and massless spin 2 fields) to the paper by\nH.C. Ohanian, \"What is spin?,\" Am. J. Phys. /54/, 500--505 (1985). In\nparticular, it is confirmed that \"spin\" is a classical quantity which can be\ncalculated for any field using its definition, namely that it is just the\nnon-local part of the conserved angular momentum. This leads to explicit\nexpressions which are bilinear in the fields and which agree with their\nstandard \"quantum\" counterparts.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0308027",
"authors": [
"Andre Gsponer"
],
"categories": [
"physics.class-ph"
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"title": "What is spin?",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0308027"
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