Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published November 2019 | Submitted
Journal Article Open

How Electrons Spin

Abstract

There are a number of reasons to think that the electron cannot truly be spinning. Given how small the electron is generally taken to be, it would have to rotate superluminally to have the right angular momentum and magnetic moment. Also, the electron's gyromagnetic ratio is twice the value one would expect for an ordinary classical rotating charged body. These obstacles can be overcome by examining the flow of mass and charge in the Dirac field (interpreted as giving the classical state of the electron). Superluminal velocities are avoided because the electron's mass and charge are spread over sufficiently large distances that neither the velocity of mass flow nor the velocity of charge flow need to exceed the speed of light. The electron's gyromagnetic ratio is twice the expected value because its charge rotates twice as fast as its mass.

Additional Information

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. Received 22 May 2018, Revised 12 March 2019, Accepted 22 April 2019, Available online 28 June 2019. Thank you to Adam Becker, Dirk-André Deckert, John McGreevy, Lukas Nickel, Hans Ohanian, Laura Ruetsche, Roderich Tumulka, David Wallace, and anonymous referees for helpful feedback and discussion. This project was supported in part by funding from the President's Research Fellowships in the Humanities, University of California.

Attached Files

Submitted - 1806.01121.pdf

Files

1806.01121.pdf
Files (1.2 MB)
Name Size Download all
md5:0e95d3e3bc540c39b939a2c6fb4538fa
1.2 MB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
March 5, 2024