Classical and quantum theories of spin

Abstract

A great effort has been devoted to formulate a classical relativistic theory of spin compatible with quantum relativistic wave equations. The main difficulty in order to connect classical and quantum theories rests in finding a parameter which plays the role of proper time at a purely quantum level. We present a partial review of several proposals of classical and quantum spin theories from the pioneer works of Thomas and Frenkel, revisited in the classical BMT work, to the semiclassical model of Barut and Zanghi [Phys. Rev. Lett. 52, 2009 (1984)]. We show that the last model can be obtained from a semiclassical limit of the Feynman proper time parametrization of the Dirac equation. At the quantum level we derive spin precession equations in the Heisenberg picture. Analogies and differences with respect to classical theories are discussed in detail.