A hydrodynamical model for relativistic spin quantum plasmas

Abstract

Based on the one-body particle-antiparticle Dirac theory of electrons, a set of relativistic quantum fluid equations for a spin half plasma is derived. The particle-antiparticle nature of the relativistic particles is explicit in this fluid theory, which also includes quantum effects such as spin. The nonrelativistic limit is shown to be in agreement with previous attempts to develop a spin plasma theory derived from the Pauli Hamiltonian. Harnessing the formalism to the study of electromagnetic mode propagation, conceptually new phenomena are revealed; the particle-antiparticle effects increase the fluid opacity to these waves, while the spin effects tend to make the fluid more transparent.