Dirac particle in gravitational field

Abstract

Classical dynamics of spinning zero-size objects in an external gravitational field is derived from the conservation law of the stress-energy and spin tensors. The resulting world line equations differ from those in the existing literature. In particular, the spin of the Dirac particle does not couple to the background curvature. As a check of consistency, the wave packet solution of the free Dirac equation is considered. The resulting equations are shown to include a constraint that relates the wave packet spin to its orbital angular momentum. In the zero-size limit, both contributions to the total angular momentum disappear simultaneously.