2005/05/16 by Matthew G. Baring, Peter L. Gonthier, A. K. Harding +1 · 49 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Computational physics #Condensed matter physics #Cyclotron #Electron #Lorentz transformation #Magnetic confinement fusion research #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Quantum electrodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Spin (aerodynamics) #Spins #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/431895
published in The Astrophysical Journal 630(1), 430-440 (IOP Publishing) · 11 pages, 2 embedded figures, apjgalley format, To appear in The Astrophysical Journal, Vol 630, September 1, 2005 issue
arxiv created 2005/05/16 · openalex publication_date 2005/09/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Cyclotron decay and absorption rates have been well studied in the literature, focusing primarily on spectral, angular, and polarization dependence. Astrophysical applications usually do not require retention of information on the electron spin state, and these are normally averaged in obtaining the requisite rates. In magnetic fields, higher order quantum processes such as Compton scattering become resonant at the cyclotron frequency and its harmonics, with the resonances being formally divergent. Such divergences are usually eliminated by accounting for the finite lifetimes of excited Landau states. This practice requires the use of spin-dependent cyclotron rates in order to obtain accurate determinations of process rates very near cyclotronic resonances, the phase-space domain most relevant for certain applications to pulsar models. This paper develops previous results in the literature to obtain compact analytic expressions for cyclotron decay rates/widths in terms of a series of Legendre functions of the second kind; these expressions can be used expediently in astrophysical models. The rates are derived using two popular eigenstate formalisms, namely, that due to Sokolov & Ternov and that due to Johnson & Lippmann. These constitute two sets of eigenfunctions of the Dirac equation that diagonalize different operators and accordingly yield different spin-dependent cyclotron rates. This paper illustrates the attractive Lorentz transformation characteristics of the Sokolov & Ternov formulation, which is another reason why it is preferable when electron spin information must be explicitly retained.