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arXiv · 1403.2698

Kinematic Explanation of Massless Particles Only Having Two Helicity States

Changli Liu·Fengjun Ge
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Abstract

Why massless particles, for example photons, can only have two helicity one-particle states is the main subject of this work. As we know, the little group which describes massive particle one-particle states' transformations under the Lorentz transformation is SO(3), while the little group describing massless states is ISO(2). In this paper, a method which is different from Inonu-Wigner contraction is used to contract SO(3) group to ISO(2) group. We use this contraction method to prove that the particle can only have two helicity one-particle states from the perspective of kinematics, when the particle mass tends to zero. Our proof is different from the dynamic explanation in the existing theories.

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Changli Liu, Fengjun Ge. 2014-03-08. Kinematic Explanation of Massless Particles Only Having Two Helicity States. https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.2698

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