arXiv subjects

Martin Rivas

Publications and source records attributed to Martin Rivas.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Physical properties of elementary particles: Inertia and Interaction

Matter has two physical properties: Inertia and interaction. If we define the center of mass of an elementary particle in relation to its inertia, and a center of interaction in relation to its interactive properties, there are only two possibilities to describe this elementary particle: that both points are the same or that they are different. If they are the same, what we describe is the point particle model, while if we consider them to be different, what we obtain is the description of an elementary spinning particle. If the center of interaction or center of charge is moving at the speed of light, completely determines also the dynamics of the center of mass, and when quantizing this model satisfies Dirac's equation. We obtain the classical description of the spinning Dirac particle. The general analysis of the interaction Lagrangian, suggests a modification of the minimal coupling Lagrangian, for a possible classical description of the strong and weak interaction.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2026

Is it possible to describe an electron by the evolution of a single point?

The answer to the title-question is affirmative. The analysis of the geometry of continuous and differentiable curves in three-dimensional Euclidean space suggests that the point represents the location of the center of charge of the electron, satisfies a system of ordinary differential equations of fourth order, and moves at the speed of light. The center of mass of the electron is a different point and will be determined by the evolution of the center of charge. It is the relative motion of the center of charge around the center of mass that gives rise to the spin and magnetic properties. The invariance of the mass and the absolute value of the spin for the center of mass observer imply that in the interaction of the electron with an external electromagnetic field the particle has to radiate. The analysis of a Poincar\'e invariant interaction of two electrons implies that the only relevant parameter that characterizes the interaction in a natural system of units, is the fine structure constant. The fundamentals of General Relativity have to be revisited.

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2025

Classical Dirac particle: Mass and Spin invariance and radiation reaction

According to the atomic principle an elementary particle has no excited states and under any interaction, if it is not annihilated, its internal structure cannot be modified. The intrinsic properties are the mass $m$ and the absolute value of the spin in the center of mass frame $S=\hbar/2$. We analyze the closed system made of a single Dirac particle and an external electromagnetic field. The Poincar\'e invariance of the dynamics implies that the energy, linear momentum and angular momentum of the whole system must be conserved. The Dirac particle has two distinguished points, the center of charge ${ r}$ and the center of mass ${q}$. When interacting, the energy expended by the field is the work done by the external Lorentz force along the center of charge trajectory. The variation of the mechanical energy of the particle is the work done by the external Lorentz force along the center of mass trajectory. If these two works are different, the excess of energy must be transformed into radiation, returning that energy to the field. The accelerated Dirac particle radiates. Accelerated spinless particles do not radiate. We analyze the spin dynamics of the Dirac particle under an external electromagnetic field. The requirement that the absolute value of the spin for the center of mass observer cannot be modified by the interaction, implies a modification of the dynamical equation which includes a new braking term along the center of mass velocity, that can be interpreted as the radiation reaction force.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2025

Classical Dirac particle II. Interaction with an electromagnetic plane wave

In a previous work we have described the classical structure and analyzed the interaction of the classical Dirac particle with uniform and oscillating electric and magnetic fields. In the present paper we consider the interaction of the Dirac particle at rest with an electromagnetic plane wave packet. The integration of the dynamical equations is done numerically with a Mathematica notebook that is available to the reader. Independently of the electric charge of the Dirac particle the interaction produces a linear momentum transfer such that the center of mass of the particle is moving with a component of its CM velocity in the direction of the propagation of the wave. The electromagnetic plane wave transfers energy, linear momentum and angular momentum to the particle. The CM spin is also modified and its change depends on the torque of the external Lorentz force defined at the center of charge position with respect to the center of mass and on the work of the external force along the center of mass trajectory of the particle. We analyze how the different physical parameters of the wave and the spin orientation determine the outcome of the numerical experiment.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2025

Classical Dirac particle I

In this work we produce a classical Lagrangian description of an elementary spinning particle which satisfies Dirac equation when quantized. We call this particle a classical Dirac particle. We analyze in detail the way we arrive to this model and how the different observables and constants of the motion can be expressed in terms of the degrees of freedom and their derivatives, by making use of Noether's theorem. The main feature is that the particle has a center of charge r, moving at the speed of light, that satisfies fourth-order diferential equations and all observables can be expressed only in terms of this point and their time derivatives. The particle has also a center of mass q, that is a different point than the center of charge. This implies that two different spin observables can be defined, one S with respect to the point r and another SCM with respect to the point q, that satisfy different dynamical equations. The spin S satisfies the same dynamical equation than Dirac's spin operator. The fourth-order differential equations for the point r can be transformed into a system of second-order ordinary differential equations for the center of charge and center of mass. The dynamics can be described in terms of dimensionless variables. The possible interaction Lagrangians are described and we devote the main part of the work to the electromagnetic interaction of the Dirac particle with uniform and oscillating electric and magnetic fields. The numerical integrations of the dynamical equations are performed with different Mathematica notebooks that are available for the interested reader.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2025

Poincare invariant interaction between two Dirac particles

The spinning electron-electron interaction is described in classical terms by means of two possible classical interactions: The instantaneous Coulomb interaction between the charge centers of both particles and the Poincar\'e invariant interaction developed in a previous work. The numerical integrations are performed with several Mathematica notebooks that are available for the interested readers in the reference Section. One difference of these interactions is that the Poincar\'e invariant interaction does not satisfy the action-reaction principle in the synchronous description and, therefore, there is no conservation of the mechanical linear momentum. It is the total linear momentum of the system what is conserved. In this synchronous description the interaction is not mediated by the retarded fields but is described in terms of the instantaneous positions, velocities and accelerations of the center of charge of both particles. In the Poincar\'e invariant description the net binding force that holds linked two Dirac particles is stronger than in the Coulomb case, thus forming a stable spin 1 system of 2 Dirac particles. This bosonic state of spin 1 does not correspond to a Cooper pair because the separation between the centers of mass of the Dirac particles is below Compton's wavelength, smaller than the correlation distance of the Cooper pair. Since the Poincar\'e invariant interaction is relativistically invariant it can be used for analyzing high energy scattering processes.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2024

Considerations about the measurement of the magnetic moment and electric dipole moment of the electron

The goal of the measurement of the magnetic moment of the electron $\mu$, is to experimentaly determine the gyromagnetic ratio. The factor $g/2$ is computed by the accurate measurement of two frequencies, the spin precession frequency $\nu_s$, and the cyclotron frequency $\nu_c$, and is defined as $\nu_s/\nu_c=g/2$. These experiments are performed with a single electron confined inside a Penning trap. The existence of the electric dipole moment ${\bf d}_e$, involves the idea of an asymmetric charge distribution along the spin direction such that ${\bf d}_e=d_e{\bf S}/(\hbar/2)$. The energy shift $\Delta U=2{d}_eE_{eff}$ of the interaction of the electric dipole of electrons with a huge effective electric field ${\bf E}_{eff}$, close to the nucleus of heavy neutral atoms or molecules, is calculated by a spin precession measurement and the value $d_e$ is determined. By using a classical model of a spinning electron, which satisfies Dirac's equation when quantized, we determine classically the time average value of the electric and magnetic dipole moments of this electron model when moving in a uniform magnetic field and in a Penning trap, with the same fields as in the real experiments, and obtain an estimated value of these dipoles. We compare these results with the experimental data and make some interpretation of the measured dipoles. The conclusion is that experiments do not measure what they purport to measure.

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2012

The center of mass and center of charge of the electron

If the assumption that the center of mass(CM) and the center of charge(CC) of the electron are two different points was stated 100 years ago, our conceptual ideas about elementary particles would be different. This assumption is only compatible with a relativistic description. It suggests, from the classical point of view, that the angular momentum of the electron has to have a unique value. In the free motion, the CC follows a helix at the speed of light. The spin with respect to CC and to CM satisfy two different dynamical equations which shows that Dirac spin operator in the quantum case satisfies the same dynamical equation as the classical spin with respect to the CC. This means, among other things, that the addition of the three Dirac's spin operators of the three quarks can never give rise to the spin of the proton, so that the proton spin crisis could be related to this incompleteness in the addition of the quark's angular momenta. Some other effects related to spinning particles like the concept of gyromagnetic ratio, a classical description of tunneling and the formation of bound pairs of electrons, are analized.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2012

Measuring the internal clock of the electron

The existence of an internal frequency associated to any elementary particle conjectured by de Broglie is compared with a classical description of the electron, where this internal structure corresponds to the motion of the centre of charge around the centre of mass of the particle. This internal motion has a frequency twice de Broglie's frequency, which corresponds to the frequency found by Dirac when analysing the electron structure. To get evidence of this internal electron clock a kind of experiment as the one performed by Gouanére et al. \cite{Gouanere} will show a discrete set of momenta at which a resonant scattering effect, appears. The resonant momenta of the electron beam are given by $p_k=161.748/k$ MeV$/c$, $k=1,2,3,...$, where only, the corresponding to $k=2$, was within the range of Gouanére et al. experiment. The extension of the experiment to other values of $p_k$, would show the existence of this phenomenon.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2012

Is General Relativity a simpler theory?

Gravity is understood as a geometrization of spacetime. But spacetime is also the manifold of the boundary values of the spinless point particle in a variational approach. Since all known matter, baryons, leptons and gauge bosons are spinning objects, it means that the manifold, which we call the kinematical space, where we play the game of the variational formalism of an elementary particle is greater than spacetime. This manifold for any mechanical system is a Finsler metric space such that the variational formalism can always be interpreted as a geodesic problem on this space. This manifold is just the flat Minkowski space for the free spinless particle. Any interaction modifies its flat Finsler metric as gravitation does. The same thing happens for the spinning objects but now the Finsler metric space has more dimensions and its metric is modified by any interaction, so that to reduce gravity to the modification only of the spacetime metric is to make a simpler theory, the gravitational theory of spinless matter. Even the usual assumption that the modification of the metric only involves dependence of the metric coefficients on the spacetime variables is also a restriction because in general these coefficients are dependent on the velocities. In the spirit of unification of all forces, gravity cannot produce, in principle, a different and simpler geometrization than any other interaction.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2008

On the kinematics of the centre of charge of a spinning particle

In particle physics, most of the classical models consider that the centre of mass and centre of charge of an elementary particle, are the same point. This presumes some particular relationship between the charge and mass distribution, a feature which cannot be checked experimentally. In this paper we give three different kinds of arguments suggesting that, if assumed different points, the centre of charge of an elementary spinning particle moves in a helical motion at the speed of light, and it thus satisfies, in general, a fourth order differential equation. If assumed a kind of rigid body structure, it is sufficient the description of the centre of charge to describe also the evolution of the centre of mass and the rotation of the body. This assumption of a separation betwen the centre of mass and centre of charge gives a contribution to the spin of the system and also justifies the existence of a magnetic moment produced by the relative motion of the centre of charge. This corresponds to an improved model of a charged elementary particle, than the point particle case. This means that a Lagrangian formalism for describing elementary spinning particles has to depend, at least, up to the acceleration of the position of the charge, to properly obtain fourth order dynamical equations. This result is compared with the description of a classical Dirac particle obtained from a general Lagrangian formalism for describing spinning particles.

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2008

The Atomic hypothesis: Physical consequences

The hypothesis that matter is made of some ultimate and indivisible objects, together the restricted relativity principle, establishes a constraint on the kind of variables we are allowed to use for the variational description of elementary particles. We consider that the atomic hypothesis not only states the indivisibility of elementary particles, but also that these ultimate objects, if not annihilated, cannot be modified by any interaction so that all allowed states of an elementary particle are only kinematical modifications of any one of them. Terefore, an elementary particle cannot have excited states. In this way, the kinematical group of spacetime symmetries not only defines the symmetries of the system, but also the variables in terms of which the mathematical description of the elementary particles can be expressed in either the classical or the quantum mechanical description. When considering the interaction of two Dirac particles, the atomic hypothesis restricts the interaction Lagrangian to a kind of minimal coupling interaction.

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2007

An interaction Lagrangian for two spin 1/2 elementary Dirac particles

The kinematical formalism for describing spinning particles developped by the author is based upon the idea that an elementary particle is a physical system with no excited states. It can be annihilated by the interaction with its antiparticle but, if not destroyed, its internal structure can never be modified. All possible states of the particle are just kinematical modifications of any one of them. The kinematical state space of the variational formalism of an elementary particle is necessarily a homogeneous space of the kinematical group of spacetime symmetries. By assuming Poincare invariance we have already described a model of a classical spinning particle which satisfies Dirac's equation when quantized. We have recently shown that the spacetime symmetry group of this Dirac particle is larger than the Poincare group. It also contains spacetime dilations and local rotations. In this work we obtain an interaction Lagrangian for two Dirac particles, which is invariant under this enlarged spacetime group. It describes a short- and long-range interaction such that when averaged, to supress the spin content of the particles, describes the instantaneous Coulomb interaction between them. As an application, we analyse the interaction between two spinning particles, and show that it is possible the existence of metastable bound states for two particles of the same charge, when the spins are parallel and provided some initial conditions are fulfilled. The possibility of formation of bound pairs is due to the zitterbewegung spin structure of the particles because when the spin is neglected, the bound states vanish.

hep-th↗

arXiv2006

Kinematical theory of spinning particles: The interaction Lagrangian for two spin 1/2 Dirac particles

The concept of elementary particle rests on the idea that it is a physical system with no excited states, so that all possible states of the particle are just kinematical modifications of any one of them. In this way instead of describing the particle attributes it amounts to describe the collection of consecutive inertial observers who describe the particle in the same kinematical state. The kinematical state space of an elementary particle is a homogeneous space of the kinematical group.By considering the largest homogeneous spaces of both, Galilei and Poincare groups, it is shown how the spin structure is related to the different degrees of freedom. Finally, the spacetime symmetry group of a relativistic particle which satisfies Dirac's equation when quantized, is enlarged to take into account additional symmetries like spacetime dilations and local rotations. An interaction Lagrangian invariant under this enlarged group is proposed and the compound system of two Dirac particles is analyzed.

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2006

The space-time symmetry group of a spin 1/2 elementary particle

The space-time symmetry group of a model of a relativistic spin 1/2 elementary particle, which satisfies Dirac's equation when quantized, is analyzed. It is shown that this group, larger than the Poincare group, also contains space-time dilations and local rotations. It has two Casimir operators, one is the spin and the other is the spin projection on the body frame. Its similarities with the standard model are discussed. If we consider this last spin observable as describing isospin, then, this Dirac particle represents a massive system of spin 1/2 and isospin 1/2. There are two possible irreducible representations of this kind of particles, a colourless or a coloured one, where the colour observable is also another spin contribution related to the zitterbewegung. It is the spin, with its twofold structure, the only intrinsic property of this Dirac elementary particle.

hep-th↗

arXiv2005

Kinematical formalism of elementary spinning particles

The concept of elementary particle rests on the idea that it is a physical system with no excited states, so that all possible kinematical states of the particle are just kinematical modifications of any one of them. The way of describing the particle attributes is equivalent to describe the collection of consecutive inertial observers who describe the particle in the same kinematical state. The kinematical state space of an elementary particle is a homogeneous space of the kinematical group. By considering the largest homogeneous spaces of both, Galilei and Poincaré groups, it is shown how the spin structure is related to the different degrees of freedom. The formalism is quantized by means of Feynman's path integral approach and special attention is paid to the classical model which satisfies Dirac's equation. Dirac's algebra is related to the classical observables, in particular to the orientation variables. Several spin effects are also analyzed.

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2003

Classical elementary particles, spin, zitterbewegung and all that

After a revision of the main features of the structure of the Dirac electron a plausible definition of elementary particle is stated. It is shown that this definition leads in the classical case to a picture which produces a very clear correspondence between the classical and quantum mechanical features of the electron. It is analyzed how the classical spin structure and zitterbewegung are related to the classical variables that define the kinematical state of the particle.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2003

The dynamical equation of the spinning electron

We obtain by invariance arguments the relativistic and non-relativistic invariant dynamical equations of a classical model of a spinning electron. We apply the formalism to a particular classical model which satisfies Dirac's equation when quantised. It is shown that the dynamics can be described in terms of the evolution of the point charge which satisfies a fourth order differential equation or, alternatively, as a system of second order differential equations by describing the evolution of both the center of mass and center of charge of the particle. As an application of the found dynamical equations, the Coulomb interaction between two spinning electrons is considered. We find from the classical viewpoint that these spinning electrons can form bound states under suitable initial conditions. Since the classical Coulomb interaction of two spinless point electrons does not allow for the existence of bound states, it is the spin structure that gives rise to new physical phenomena not described in the spinless case. Perhaps the paper may be interesting from the mathematical point of view but not from the point of view of physics.

physics.class-ph↗