Spin-half mass dimension one fermions and their higher-spin generalizations

Abstract

A self-contained review on spin-half mass dimension one fermions and their higher-spin generalizations is presented. Starting from the two-component left-handed Weyl spinors, the Dirac spinors and Elko (eigenspinors of the charge conjugation operator) are constructed. After elaborating on their similarities and differences, we generalize the spin-half Elko to higher-spin. The field operators constructed from Elko and their higher-spin generalizations are shown to be of mass dimension one with positive-definite free Hamiltonians. The physical significance of higher-spin mass dimension one particles and further extensions in the context of Lounesto classification are discussed.