2021/03/31 by Nora Weickgenannt, Enrico Speranza, Xin-Li Sheng +3 · 110 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Boltzmann constant #Boltzmann equation #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Collision #Computer science #Geometry #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Mathematical physics #Mathematics #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Scalar (mathematics) #Spin (aerodynamics) #hep-ph #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.104.016022
published in Physical review. D/Physical review. D. 104(1) (American Physical Society) · 24 pages
openalex created_date 2021/03/15 · arxiv created 2021/07/18 · openalex publication_date 2021/07/27 · arxiv updated 2021/08/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We derive the Boltzmann equation and the collision kernel for massive spin-1/2 particles, using the Wigner-function formalism and employing an expansion in powers of \ensuremathℏ. The phase space is enlarged to include a variable related to the spin degrees of freedom. This allows us to reduce the transport equations of the independent components of the Wigner function to one scalar equation. To next-to-leading order in \ensuremathℏ, we find that the collision kernel contains both local and nonlocal terms. We show that off-shell contributions cancel in the Boltzmann equation. Our framework can be used to study spin-polarization phenomena induced by vorticity as recently observed in heavy-ion collisions and in condensed-matter systems.