In-medium Electromagnetic Form Factors and Spin Polarizations

Abstract

We formulate the coupling between fermion spin and background electromagnetic fields using form factors. We show that the vacuum form factors at tree level reproduce the spin polarization effects found in chiral kinetic theory. The vacuum form factors corresponding to spin couplings to perpendicular electric field, parallel and perpendicular magnetic field are degenerate. The degeneracy is expected to be lifted in medium. As an example, we calculate the in-medium QCD radiative correction to the form factors at one-loop order, where we find partial lift of the degeneracy: the spin couplings to parallel and perpendicular magnetic field are different, but the spin couplings to perpendicular electric and parallel magnetic field remain the same.