Semiclassical quantisation rules for the Dirac and Pauli equations

Abstract

We derive explicit semiclassical quantisation conditions for the Dirac and Pauli equations. We show that the spin degree of freedom yields a contribution which is of the same order of magnitude as the Maslov correction in Einstein-Brillouin-Keller quantisation. In order to obtain this result a generalisation of the notion of integrability for a certain skew product flow of classical translational dynamics and classical spin precession has to be derived. Among the examples discussed is the relativistic Kepler problem with Thomas precession, whose treatment sheds some light on the amazing success of Sommerfeld's theory of fine structure [Ann. Phys. (Leipzig) 51 (1916) 1--91].