Spin Gauge Fields: from Berry Phase to Topological Spin Transport and Hall Effects

Abstract

The paper examines the emergence of gauge fields during the evolution of a particle with a spin that is described by a matrix Hamiltonian with n different eigenvalues. It is shown that by introducing a spin gauge field a particle with a spin can be described as a spin multiplet of scalar particles situated in a non-Abelian pure gauge (forceless) field U(n). As the result, one can create a theory of particle evolution that is gauge invariant with regards to the group U^n(1). Due to this, in the adiabatic (Abelian) approximation the spin gauge field is an analogue of n electromagnetic fields U(1) on the extended phase space of the particle. These fields are force ones, and the forces of their action enter the particle motion equations that are derived in the paper in the general form. The motion equations describe the topological spin transport, pumping and splitting. The Berry phase is represented in this theory analogously to the Dirac phase of a particle in an electromagnetic field. Due to the analogy with the electromagnetic field, the theory becomes natural in the four-dimensional form. Besides the general theory the article considers a number of important particular examples, both known and new.