Abstract
We derive the collision term in the Boltzmann equation using the equation of motion for the Wigner function of massive spin- particles. To next-to-lowest order in , it contains a nonlocal contribution, which is responsible for the conversion of orbital into spin angular momentum. In a proper choice of pseudogauge, the antisymmetric part of the energy-momentum tensor arises solely from this nonlocal contribution. We show that the collision term vanishes in global equilibrium and that the spin potential is, then, equal to the thermal vorticity. In the nonrelativistic limit, the equations of motion for the energy-momentum and spin tensors reduce to the well-known form for hydrodynamics for micropolar fluids.
- Received 18 May 2020
- Accepted 20 May 2021
- Corrected 9 September 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.052301
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.
Published by the American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Corrections
9 September 2021
Correction: The affiliation indicator number for the fourth author was assigned improperly during the production process and has been fixed.