The effect of inertia on the Dirac electron, the spin Hall current and the momentum space Berry curvature

Debashree Chowdhury, B. Basu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have studied the spin dependent force and the associated momentum space Berry curvature in an accelerating system. The results are derived by taking into consideration the non-relativistic limit of a generally covariant Dirac equation with an electromagnetic field present, where the methodology of the Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation is applied to achieve the non-relativistic limit. Spin currents appear due to the combined action of the external electric field, the crystal field and the induced inertial electric field via the total effective spin-orbit interaction. In an accelerating frame, the crucial role of momentum space Berry curvature in the spin dynamics has also been addressed from the perspective of spin Hall conductivity. For time dependent acceleration, the expression for the spin polarization has been derived.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)166-178
Number of pages13
JournalAnnals of Physics
Volume329
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Feb 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Dirac electron in the non-relativistic limit
  • Effect of acceleration
  • Momentum space Berry curvature
  • Spin current
  • Spin dependent force
  • Spin-orbit interaction

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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