The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

The physical meaning of the Belinfante-Rosenfeld ambiguity

The physical meaning of the Belinfante-Rosenfeld ambiguity
The physical meaning of the Belinfante-Rosenfeld ambiguity
Current literature lacks consensus on how to theoretically describe spin polarization and its transport in matter. The underlying reason is the presence of the Belinfante-Rosenfeld (BR) ambiguity in the form of the energy-momentum and spin tensors. I re-examine the BR ambiguity in Einstein-Cartan spacetimes, using the bi-form formalism in a manner applicable to any conserved current and its corresponding gauge field. This allows us to physically interpret the BR ambiguity as the choice of splitting a conserved current into its matter and gauge field contributions.
arXiv
Matthaiakakis, Ioannis
f5950277-7869-4bbd-b907-8319540424ab
Matthaiakakis, Ioannis
f5950277-7869-4bbd-b907-8319540424ab

[Unknown type: UNSPECIFIED]

Record type: UNSPECIFIED

Abstract

Current literature lacks consensus on how to theoretically describe spin polarization and its transport in matter. The underlying reason is the presence of the Belinfante-Rosenfeld (BR) ambiguity in the form of the energy-momentum and spin tensors. I re-examine the BR ambiguity in Einstein-Cartan spacetimes, using the bi-form formalism in a manner applicable to any conserved current and its corresponding gauge field. This allows us to physically interpret the BR ambiguity as the choice of splitting a conserved current into its matter and gauge field contributions.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Submitted date: 25 March 2026

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 511608
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/511608
PURE UUID: 9e8ca2be-199b-4a3b-959a-49a9cc445d33
ORCID for Ioannis Matthaiakakis: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8470-5117

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 22 May 2026 18:26
Last modified: 23 May 2026 02:34

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Ioannis Matthaiakakis ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×