Dirac Equation in Kerr-NUT-(A)dS Spacetimes: Intrinsic Characterization of Separability in All Dimensions

Abstract

We intrinsically characterize separability of the Dirac equation in Kerr-NUT-(A)dS spacetimes in all dimensions. Namely, we explicitly demonstrate that in such spacetimes there exists a complete set of first-order mutually commuting operators, one of which is the Dirac operator, that allows for common eigenfunctions which can be found in a separated form and correspond precisely to the general solution of the Dirac equation found by Oota and Yasui [arXiv:0711.0078]. Since all the operators in the set can be generated from the principal conformal Killing-Yano tensor, this establishes the (up to now) missing link among the existence of hidden symmetry, presence of a complete set of commuting operators, and separability of the Dirac equation in these spacetimes.