English

Spin continuity equation and definition of spin current

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2009-04-28 v2

Abstract

For an electron, a spin-1/2 particle, the spin charge s\mathbf{s}, a real pseudovector with constant length, could determine the spin polarization properties in quantum mechanics. Since spin density ρs\rho_{\mathbf{s}} could be expressed as the product of probability density ρ\rho and the spin charge s\mathbf{s}, the spin continuity equation could be derived from fundamental principles of quantum mechanics and the definition of spin current arise naturally. Only in some specific conditions the conventional definition of spin current coincides with ours. The equilibrium spin currents would vanish automatically in two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit interaction by using our definition of spin current.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0904.3796,
  title  = {Spin continuity equation and definition of spin current},
  author = {Xiang Zhou and Zhenyu Zhang and Cheng-Zheng Hu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0904.3796},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

Add discussion of the relationship between our spin current definition and the conventional one

R2 v1 2026-06-21T12:54:41.165Z