Chiral fermions as classical massless spinning particles
Abstract
Semiclassical chiral fermion models with Berry term are studied in a symplectic framework. In the free case, the system can be obtained from Souriau's model for a relativistic massless spinning particle by "enslaving" the spin. The Berry term is identified with the classical spin two-form of the latter model. The Souriau model carries a natural Poincar\'e symmetry that we highlight, but spin enslavement breaks the boost symmetry. However the relation between the models allows us to derive a Poincare symmetry of unconventional form for chiral fermions. Then we couple our system to an external electromagnetic field. For gyromagnetic ratio we get curious superluminal Hall-type motions; for and in a pure constant magnetic field in particular, we find instead spiraling motions.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1406.0718,
title = {Chiral fermions as classical massless spinning particles},
author = {C. Duval and P. A. Horvathy},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1406.0718},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
Substantially revised and extended version. 31 pages, 5 figures. Details clarified and references added. To be published in PRD