Second central extension in Galilean covariant field theory

Abstract

The second central extension of the planar Galilei group has been alleged to have its origin in the spin variable. This idea is explored here by considering local Galilean covariant field theory for free fields of arbitrary spin. It is shown that such systems generally display only a trivial realization of the second central extension. While it is possible to realize any desired value of the extension parameter by suitable redefinition of the boost operator, such an approach has no necessary connection to the spin of the basic underlying field.