The ideal relativistic spinning gas: Polarization and spectra (Q950105)

The physics of ideal relativistic rotating gas at thermodynamic equilibrium is studied. The thermodynamics of rotating systems is a subject of interest mainly in astrophysics, where spinning objects are compact stars. Also in nuclear physics, there have been noteworthy applications to the problem of multifragmentation. In the actual paper, analytic expressions of the momentum spectra and polarization vector in the case of massive particles with spin \(1/2\) and \(1\) in a relativistic rotating gas with large (in \(\hbar\) units) angular momentum are provided. From a phenomenological point of view, these calculations might be of interest for the physics of relativistic heavy ion collisions, where the formation of a system with a large intrinsic angular momentum has been envisaged. The calculations are performed for the Boltzmann statistics, leaving the quantum statistics to a future work. First, the statistical mechanics of an ideal relativistic gas with fixed, large angular momentum is discussed, showing the equivalence with a rigidly rotating system. In the following, the relation between angular momentum and angular velocity in the limit of low rotational speed is analyzed. Then the inclusive momentum spectra of particles is calculated and, finally, the expressions of the polarization vectors of massive particles with spin \(1/2\) and \(1\) are obtained. It is shown that the finite angular momentum \(\mathbf J\) entails an anisotropy in momentum spectra, with particles emitted orthogonally to \(\mathbf J\) having, on average, a larger momentum than along its direction. Unlike in the non-relativistic case, the proper polarization vector turns out not to be aligned with the total angular momentum with a non-trivial momentum dependence.