English

The definition of the spin current: The angular spin current and its physical consequences

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2009-11-11 v1

Abstract

We find that in order to completely describe the spin transport, apart from spin current (or linear spin current), one has to introduce the angular spin current. The two spin currents respectively describe the translational and rotational motion (precession)of a spin. The definitions of these spin current densities are given and their physical properties are discussed. Both spin current densities appear naturally in the spin continuity equation. Moreover we predict that the angular spin current can also induce an electric field E\vec{E}, and in particular E\vec{E} scales as 1/r21/r^2 at large distance rr, whereas the E\vec{E} field generated from the linear spin current goes as 1/r31/r^3.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0508181,
  title  = {The definition of the spin current: The angular spin current and its physical consequences},
  author = {Qing-feng Sun and X. C. Xie},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0508181},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

15 pages, 3 figures. Revised version 2 with major update

R2 v1 2026-07-22T11:21:08.075Z