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Kinetic theory with spin: From massive to massless fermions
- Source :
- Phys. Rev. D 102, 025019 (2020)
- Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- We find that the recently developed kinetic theories with spin for massive and massless fermions are smoothly connected. By introducing a reference-frame vector, we decompose the dipole-moment tensor into electric and magnetic dipole moments. We show that the axial-vector component of the Wigner function contains a contribution from the transverse magnetic dipole moment which accounts for the transverse spin degree of freedom (DOF) and vanishes smoothly in the massless limit. As a result, the kinetic equations, describing four DOF for massive fermions, becomes smoothly the chiral kinetic equations describing two DOF in the massless limit. We also confirm the small-mass behavior of the Wigner function by explicit calculation using a Gaussian wave packet.<br />Comment: 12 pages, no figure
- Subjects :
- High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Nuclear Theory
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- arXiv
- Journal :
- Phys. Rev. D 102, 025019 (2020)
- Publication Type :
- Report
- Accession number :
- edsarx.2005.00204
- Document Type :
- Working Paper
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.102.025019