A classical analog for the electron spin state

2011/11/14 by K. B. Wharton, Wharton, K. B., R. A. Linck +3
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum Physics (quant-ph)

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1111.3348

openalex publication_date 2011/11/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Despite conventional wisdom that spin-1/2 systems have no classical analog, we introduce a set of classical coupled oscillators with solutions that exactly map onto the dynamics of an unmeasured electron spin state in an arbitrary, time-varying, magnetic field. While not addressing the quantum measurement problem (discrete outcomes and their associated probabilities), this new classical analog yields a classical, physical interpretation of Zeeman splitting, geometric phase, the electron's doubled gyromagnetic ratio, and other quantum phenomena. This Lagrangian-based model can be used to clarify the division between classical and quantum systems, and might also serve as a guidepost for certain approaches to quantum foundations.

Citations

• Modern Quantum Mechanics
• Evidence for the epistemic view of quantum states: A toy theory
• On the Problem of Hidden Variables in Quantum Mechanics

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