Anomalous Acceleration Effects for Neutrons

Abstract

Comparing the Dirac Hamiltonians for a neutron subjected to either a Schwartzchild gravitational field or a uniform acceleration, we observe that the difference between the two is precisely the sort that might be eliminated by the introduction of a new quantum number. The origin of this quantum number lies in the noncommutation of an acceleration with the quark operators that constitute the neutron. We show that the term containing the new quantum number only acts on very long length scales. Furthermore, the symmetries of an acceleration prevent the effects of this term from being periodic.