Relativistic kinetic theory for spin-1/2 particles: Conservation laws, thermodynamics, and linear waves

Understand

We study a recently derived fully relativistic kinetic model for spin-1/2 particles.

• Firstly, the full set of conservation laws for energy, momentum and angular momentum are given, together with an expression for the (non-symmetric) stress-energy tensor.
• Next, the thermodynamic equilibrium distribution is given in different limiting cases.
• Furthermore, we address the analytical complexity that arises when the spin- and momentum eigenfunctions are coupled in linear theory, by calculating the linear dispersion relation for such a case.