Proposal for an experiment to verify Wigner's rotation at non-relativistic speeds with massive spin-1/2 particles

verfasst von

Veiko Palge, Jacob Dunningham, Yuji Hasegawa, Christian Pfeifer

Abstract

The Wigner rotation of quantum particles with spin is one of the fascinating consequences of interplay between special relativity and quantum mechanics. In this paper we show that a direct experimental verification of Wigner's rotation is in principle accessible in the regime of non-relativistic velocities at ∼10³ ms⁻¹ for massive spin-1/2 particles. We discuss how the experiment could be carried out in a laboratory using cold neutrons. The measurement at non-relativistic velocities becomes possible through letting neutrons propagate for a sufficiently long time because Wigner rotation is a cumulative effect.

Externe Organisation(en)

University of Tartu
University of Sussex
Technische Universität Wien (TUW)
Zentrum für angewandte Raumfahrt­technologie und Mikro­gravitation (ZARM)

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Physics Letters, Section A: General, Atomic and Solid State Physics

Band

544

ISSN

0375-9601

Publikationsdatum

28.03.2025

Publikationsstatus

Elektronisch veröffentlicht (E-Pub)

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Allgemeine Physik und Astronomie

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physleta.2025.130490 (Zugang: Unbekannt)