March 7, 2000
The gravitational couplings of intrinsic spin are briefly reviewed. A consequence of the Dirac equation in the exterior gravitational field of a rotating mass is considered in detail, namely, the difference in the energy of a spin-1/2 particle polarized vertically up and down near the surface of a rotating body is $\hbar\Omega\sin\theta$. Here $\theta$ is the latitude and $\Omega = 2GJ/(c^2 R^3)$, where $J$ and $R$ are, respectively, the angular momentum and radius of the body. It seems that this relativistic quantum gravitational effect could be measurable in the foreseeable future.
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August 18, 2011
We give a systematic treatment of a spin 1/2 particle in a combined electromagnetic field and a weak gravitational field that is produced by a slowly moving matter source. This paper continues previous work on a spin zero particle, but it is largely self-contained and may serve as an introduction to spinors in a Riemann space. The analysis is based on the Dirac equation expressed in generally covariant form and coupled minimally to the electromagnetic field. The restriction t...
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We discuss the quantum and classical dynamics of a particle with spin in the gravitational field of a rotating source. A relativistic equation describing the motion of classical spin in curved spacetimes is obtained. We demonstrate that the precession of the classical spin is in a perfect agreement with the motion of the quantum spin derived from the Foldy-Wouthuysen approach for the Dirac particle in a curved spacetime. We show that the precession effect depends crucially on...
March 5, 1998
The inertial and gravitational properties of intrinsic spin are discussed and some of the recent work in this area is briefly reviewed. The extension of relativistic wave equations to accelerated systems and gravitational fields is critically examined. A nonlocal theory of accelerated observers is presented and its predictions are compared with observation.
July 14, 2000
Spin-1/2 particles can be used to study inertial and gravitational effects by means of interferometers, particle accelerators, and ultimately quantum systems. These studies require, in general, knowledge of the Hamiltonian and of the inertial and gravitational quantum phases. The procedure followed gives both in the low- and high-energy approximations. The latter affords a more consistent treatment of mass at high energies. The procedure is based on general relativity and on ...
March 30, 2019
A unified approach to the study of classical and quantum spin in external fields is developed. Understanding the dynamics of particles with spin and dipole moments in arbitrary gravitational, inertial and electromagnetic fields is important in astrophysics and high-energy and heavy-ion experimental physics.
June 21, 2000
We study two type effects of gravitational field on mechanical gyroscopes (i.e. rotating extended bodies). The first depends on special relativity and equivalence principle. The second is related to the coupling (i.e. a new force) between the spins of mechanical gyroscopes, which would violate the equivalent principle. In order to give a theoretical prediction to the second we suggest a spin-spin coupling model for two mechanical gyroscopes. An upper limit on the coupling str...
February 17, 2003
Several relativistic quantum gravitational effects such as spin-rotation coupling, gravitomagnetic charge and gravitational Meissner effect are investigated in the present letter. The field equation of gravitomagnetic matter is suggested and a static spherically symmetric solution of this equation is offered. With foreseeable improvements in detecting and measuring technology, it is possible for us to investigate quantum mechanics in weak-gravitational fields. The potential i...
September 23, 1994
(Talk presented at the 7th Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity, Stanford, CA, July 24-30, 1994) We study the semi-classical limit of the solution of the Dirac equation in a background electromagnetic/gravitational plane wave. We show that the exact solution corresponding to an asymptotically fixed incoming momentum satisfies constraints consistent with the classical notion of a spinning particle. In order to further analyze the motion of a spinning particle in this...
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Effective Lagrangian describing gravitational source spin-particle spin interactions is given. Cosmological and astrophysical consequences of such interaction are examined. Although stronger than expected, the spin-spin interactions do not change any cosmological effect observed so far. They are important for background primordial neutrinos.
December 28, 2000
The gravitational effects in the relativistic quantum mechanics are investigated. The exact Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation is constructed for the Dirac particle coupled to the static spacetime metric. As a direct application, we analyze the non-relativistic limit of the theory. The new term describing the specific spin (gravitational moment) interaction effect is recovered in the Hamiltonian. The comparison of the true gravitational coupling with the purely inertial case dem...