11 research outputs found
Center of mass, spin supplementary conditions, and the momentum of spinning particles
We discuss the problem of defining the center of mass in general relativity
and the so-called spin supplementary condition. The different spin conditions
in the literature, their physical significance, and the momentum-velocity
relation for each of them are analyzed in depth. The reason for the
non-parallelism between the velocity and the momentum, and the concept of
"hidden momentum", are dissected. It is argued that the different solutions
allowed by the different spin conditions are equally valid descriptions for the
motion of a given test body, and their equivalence is shown to dipole order in
curved spacetime. These different descriptions are compared in simple examples.Comment: 45 pages, 7 figures. Some minor improvements, typos fixed, signs in
some expressions corrected. Matches the published version. Published as part
of the book "Equations of Motion in Relativistic Gravity", D. Puetzfeld et
al. (eds.), Fundamental Theories of Physics 179, Springer, 201