Dynamics of charged spin- 1/2 particles in superposed states minimally coupled to electromagnetism in curved spacetime within the WKB approximation

Abstract

We investigate the curved-spacetime dynamics of charged spin-12 particles minimally coupled to the electromagnetic field and propagating in superposed states of different masses. For that purpose, we make use of a Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin approximation of the Dirac equation with a minimal coupling to the Maxwell field in curved spacetime. We obtain the spin dynamics as well as the deviation from geodesic motion of such particles. The problem of having the mass eigenstates experience different proper times, as opposed to the case of neutral particles, is here dealt with by first extracting the second-order differential equation obeyed by each superposition. This strategy proves to be not only powerful, but also very economical. Published by the American Physical Society 2024