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On free fall of fermions and antifermions

Emelyanov, Viacheslav A. 1
1 Institut für Theoretische Physik (ITP), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Abstract:

We propose a model describing spin-half quantum particles in curved spacetime in the framework of quantum field theory. Our model is based on embodying Einstein’s equivalence principle and general covariance in the definition of quantum-particle states. With this model at hand, we compute several observables which characterise spin-half quantum particles in a gravitational field. In particular, we find that spin precesses in a normal Fermi frame, even in the absence of torsion. The effect appears to be complementary to free-fall non-universality we have recently reported about for spinless quantum particles. Furthermore, we find that quantum-particle gravitational-potential energy is insensitive to wave-packet spreading in the Earth’s gravitational field, that is responsible for the non-universality of free fall in quantum theory. This theoretical result provides another channel for the experimental study of our quantum-particle model by using gravitational spectrometers. Finally, we also find that (elementary) fermions and antifermions are indistinguishable in gravity.

Zugehörige Institution(en) am KIT Institut für Theoretische Physik (ITP)
Publikationstyp Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Publikationsmonat/-jahr 07.2023
Sprache Englisch
Identifikator ISSN: 1434-6052
KITopen-ID: 1000163715
Erschienen in The European Physical Journal C
Verlag Springer-Verlag
Band 83
Heft 7
Seiten Art.-Nr.: 632
Vorab online veröffentlicht am 18.07.2023
Nachgewiesen in Scopus
Web of Science
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Verlagsausgabe §
DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000163715
Veröffentlicht am 02.11.2023
Originalveröffentlichung
DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-11788-1
Scopus
Zitationen: 1
Web of Science
Zitationen: 1
Dimensions
Zitationen: 1
Seitenaufrufe: 25
seit 02.11.2023
Downloads: 19
seit 17.11.2023
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