No Arabic abstract
Classical results and recent developments on the theoretical description of elementary particles with continuous spin are reviewed. At free level, these fields are described by unitary irreducible representations of the isometry group (either Poincare or anti de Sitter group) with an infinite number of physical degrees of freedom per spacetime point. Their basic group-theoretical and field-theoretical descriptions are reviewed in some details. We mention a list of open issues which are crucial to address for assessing their physical status and potential relevance.
We extend the quantum-mechanical results of Muller & Saunders (2008) establishing the weak discernibility of an arbitrary number of similar fermions in finite-dimensional Hilbert-spaces in two ways: (a) from fermions to bosons for all finite-dimensional Hilbert-spaces; and (b) from finite-dimensional to infinite-dimensional Hilbert-spaces for all elementary particles. In both cases this is performed using operators whose physical significance is beyond doubt.This confutes the currently dominant view that (A) the quantum-mechanical description of similar particles conflicts with Leibnizs Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles (PII); and that (B) the only way to save PII is by adopting some pre-Kantian metaphysical notion such as Scotusian haecceittas or Adamsian primitive thisness. We take sides with Muller & Saunders (2008) against this currently dominant view, which has been expounded and defended by, among others, Schrodinger, Margenau, Cortes, Dalla Chiara, Di Francia, Redhead, French, Teller, Butterfield, Mittelstaedt, Giuntini, Castellani, Krause and Huggett.
On the basis of the three fundamental principles of (i) Poincar{e} symmetry of space time, (ii) electromagnetic gauge symmetry, and (iii) unitarity, we construct an universal Lagrangian for the electromagnetic interactions of elementary vector particles, i.e., massive spin-1 particles transforming in the /1/2,1/2) representation space of the Homogeneous Lorentz Group (HLG). We make the point that the first two symmetries alone do not fix the electromagnetic couplings uniquely but solely prescribe a general Lagrangian depending on two free parameters, here denoted by xi and g. The first one defines the electric-dipole and the magnetic-quadrupole moments of the vector particle, while the second determines its magnetic-dipole and electric-quadrupole moments. In order to fix the parameters one needs an additional physical input suited for the implementation of the third principle. As such, one chooses Compton scattering off a vector target and requires the cross section to respect the unitarity bounds in the high energy limit. In result, we obtain the universal g=2, and xi=0 values which completely characterize the electromagnetic couplings of the considered elementary vector field at tree level. The nature of this vector particle, Abelian versus non-Abelian, does not affect this structure. Merely, a partition of the g=2 value into non-Abelian, g_{na}, and Abelian, g_{a}=2-g_{na}, contributions occurs for non-Abelian fields with the size of g_{na} being determined by the specific non-Abelian group appearing in the theory of interest, be it the Standard Model or any other theory.
We carry out a constructive review of non-standard solutions of relativistic wave equations. Such solutions are obtained via splitting of relativistic wave equations written in spinor form. All these solutions are also solutions of the Dirac equation and are non-standard because they involve higher-order spinors. The main finding is that non-standard solutions describe decaying states.
It is generally believed that dispersive polarimetric detection of collective angular momentum in large atomic spin systems gives rise to: squeezing in the measured observable, anti-squeezing in a conjugate observable, and collective spin eigenstates in the long-time limit (provided that decoherence is suitably controlled). We show that such behavior only holds when the particles in the ensemble cannot be spatially distinguished-- even in principle-- regardless of whether the measurement is only sensitive to collective observables. While measuring a cloud of spatially-distinguishable spin-1/2 particles does reduce the uncertainty in the measured spin component, it generates neither squeezing nor anti-squeezing. The steady state of the measurement is highly mixed, albeit with a well-defined value of the measured collective angular momentum observable.
Action principles for the single and double valued continuous-spin representations of the Poincare group have been recently proposed in a Segal-like formulation. We address three related issues: First, we explain how to obtain these actions directly from the Fronsdal-like and Fang-Fronsdal-like equations by solving the traceless constraints in Fourier space. Second, we introduce a current, similar to the one of Berends, Burgers and Van Dam, which is bilinear in a pair of scalar matter fields, to which the bosonic continuous-spin field can couple minimally. Third, we investigate the current exchange mediated by a continuous-spin particle obtained from this action principle and investigate whether it propagates the right degrees of freedom, and whether it reproduces the known result for massless higher-spin fields in the helicity limit.