A classical analog for the electron spin state
Abstract
Despite conventional wisdom that spin-1/2 systems have no classical analog, we introduce a set of classical coupled oscillators with solutions that exactly map onto the dynamics of an unmeasured electron spin state in an arbitrary, time-varying, magnetic field. While not addressing the quantum measurement problem (discrete outcomes and their associated probabilities), this new classical analog yields a classical, physical interpretation of Zeeman splitting, geometric phase, the electron's doubled gyromagnetic ratio, and other quantum phenomena. This Lagrangian-based model can be used to clarify the division between classical and quantum systems, and might also serve as a guidepost for certain approaches to quantum foundations.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1111.3348,
title = {A classical analog for the electron spin state},
author = {K. B. Wharton and R. A. Linck and C. H. Salazar-Lazaro},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1111.3348},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
16 pages, Comments welcome