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# Low-temperature Dephasing and Renormalization in Model Systems

## I Introduction

A particle prepared in a non-equilibrium state and interacting with an environment usually relaxes to equilibrium. The decay of the off-diagonal elements of its density matrix is denoted as dephasing. More generally, any state of the particle described by mixture with density matrix $`\widehat{\rho }\widehat{\rho }^2`$ can be interpreted as manifestation of dephasing. This applies for reduced density matrices, obtained after tracing out the environment, also in equilibrium and even in the ground state of the total system. We further note that certain correlation and response functions of the particle decay, a fact which may be related to dephasing as well. Again this decay is observable although the expectation values are evaluated in the ground state of the total system. All these manifestations of dephasing have the same origin: the interaction and entanglement of the particle with an environment, combined with the reduction of the description to a subsystem of the total system. The interaction usually has further consequences, incl. relaxation, dissipation, as well as renormalization effects. These effects, while closely related, must be carefully distinguished from each other.

In this article we consider several model systems, which in part can be analyzed exactly, with the idea to illustrate different manifestations of dephasing and the distinction to relaxation and renormalization effects. First we review spin-boson models Leggett ; Weiss . Depending on the spectrum of the bath one finds dephasing, manifest as the decay of the coherence of an initial non-equilibrium state, even at $`T=0`$. We further show that equilibrium correlation and response functions decay on a time scale which coincides with the dephasing time SMS2 . On the other hand, some effects of the coupling to the bath can be interpreted as renormalization effects. The results are relevant, e.g., in the context of quantum manipulations of quantum systems in a dissipative environment SMS .

Next we review Caldeira-Leggett (CL) models CL  of a particle coupled linearly to a bath of oscillators and arrive at similar conclusions. As an application we consider persistent currents in mesoscopic rings with interactions Buttiker ; Florian ; Guinea ; Herrero ; LM . We then analyze the problem of a particle which interacts with a quantum field $`\widehat{V}`$ as described by the Hamiltonian

$$\widehat{H}=\frac{\widehat{𝐩}^2}{2m}e\widehat{V}(t,\widehat{𝐫})+\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{env}}(\widehat{V},\widehat{\psi }).$$
(1)
The field $`\widehat{V}(t,\widehat{𝐫})`$ fluctuates due to the coupling to further environment degrees of freedom $`\psi `$. Its fluctuations are characterized by a frequency- and wave-vector-dependent dielectric function $`ϵ(\omega ,𝐤)`$, thus generalizing the effect of the bath in the CL model. In spite of the differences we find results similar to those mentioned above, including a finite dephasing time at $`T=0`$.

The results for the dephasing time of the last model coincide with those derived in Ref. GZ  (GZ) for the problem of interacting electrons in a diffusive conductor. Indeed, the interaction between electrons can be accounted for by a fluctuating field $`\widehat{V}(t,\widehat{𝐫})`$, however, since the electrons are indistinguishable one has to account for the Pauli principle. An appropriately generalized formulation of the problem has been presented by GZ GZ ; GZ02 . They argued that the modifications do not yield qualitative changes for the dephasing time. This conclusion has been challenged; for a discussion see, e.g., Refs. Jan ; Florian1 .

## II Spin-boson model

The spin-boson model has been studied extensively before Leggett ; Weiss ; the analysis of the following section is partially based on work presented in Ref. SMS2 . The spin-boson model describes a two-state quantum system coupled to a bath of oscillators with Hamiltonian

$`\widehat{H}={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }E}{2}}\widehat{\sigma }_z+\widehat{X}(\mathrm{cos}\theta \widehat{\sigma }_z\mathrm{sin}\theta \widehat{\sigma }_x)+{\displaystyle \underset{k}{}}\mathrm{}\omega _k\widehat{a}_k^+\widehat{a}_k.`$ (2)
Here $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ is the bare energy splitting between the levels of the two-state system. The bath operator $`\widehat{X}=_kc_k(\widehat{a}_k+\widehat{a}_k^+)`$ couples ‘longitudinally’ to $`\widehat{\sigma }_z`$ and ‘transverse’ to $`\widehat{\sigma }_x`$, depending on the angle $`\theta `$. In thermal equilibrium the Fourier transform of the symmetrized correlation function of this operator,

$$S_X(\omega )[\widehat{X}(t),\widehat{X}(t^{})]_+_\omega =2\mathrm{}J_s(\omega )\mathrm{coth}\frac{\mathrm{}\omega }{2k_\mathrm{B}T},$$
(3)
depends on the bath spectral density $`J_s(\omega )(\pi /\mathrm{})_kc_k^2\delta (\omega \omega _k)`$. At low frequencies it typically follows a power-law up to a high-frequency cutoff $`\omega _\mathrm{c}`$,

$$J_s(\omega )=\frac{\pi }{2}\mathrm{}\alpha \omega _0^{1s}\omega ^s\mathrm{\Theta }(\omega _\mathrm{c}\omega ).$$
(4)
The spin-boson model has been studied mostly for baths with Ohmic spectrum ($`s=1`$). In general, for dimensional reasons a frequency scale $`\omega _0`$ has been introduced in (4), although $`J_s(\omega )`$ depends only the combination $`\alpha \omega _0^{1s}`$. We could choose $`\omega _0`$ equal to the high frequency cutoff $`\omega _\mathrm{c}`$ of the bath Leggett , however for later discussion it is more convenient to distinguish both.

### II.1 Relaxation of a non-equilibrium state

Two different time scales describe the evolution in the spin-boson model. The dephasing time $`\tau _\phi `$ characterizes the decay of the off-diagonal elements of the spin’s reduced density matrix $`\widehat{\rho }(t)`$ in the eigenbasis of $`H_0`$. Frequently one encounters an exponential long-time dependence, $`\widehat{\rho }(t)_{12}e^{t/\tau _\phi }`$, but other decay laws may emerge as well. The second, the relaxation time scale $`\tau _{\mathrm{relax}}`$, characterizes how diagonal entries tend to their thermal equilibrium values, $`\widehat{\rho }_{ii}(t)\widehat{\rho }_{ii}^{\mathrm{eq}}e^{t/\tau _{\mathrm{relax}}}`$. Both times were evaluated in Refs. Leggett ; Weiss  with the results

$`\tau _{\mathrm{relax}}^1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}^2}}\mathrm{sin}^2\theta S_X\left(\omega =\mathrm{\Delta }E/\mathrm{}\right),`$ (5)
$`\tau _\phi ^1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\tau _{\mathrm{relax}}^1+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}^2}}\mathrm{cos}^2\theta S_X(\omega =0).`$ (6)
For transverse coupling ($`\mathrm{sin}\theta `$) the fluctuating field induces transitions between the eigenstates of the unperturbed system. For longitudinal coupling ($`\mathrm{cos}\theta `$) it still contributes to dephasing, since it leads to fluctuations of the eigenenergies and, thus, to a random phase shift. This is the origin of the second, “pure” dephasing term $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\phi ^{}=S_X(\omega =0)/\mathrm{}^2`$ in Eq. (6). For an Ohmic environment at $`T0`$ one finds $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\phi ^{}=2\pi \alpha k_\mathrm{B}T/\mathrm{}`$. At $`T=0`$, on the other hand, for most spectra the expression (6) yields a vanishing or divergent result for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}`$, demonstrating the need for a more detailed analysis.

In the limit of purely longitudinal coupling, $`\theta =0`$, the analysis can be done exactly. Assuming a factorized initial density matrix one finds $`\widehat{\rho }_{12}P_{\omega _\mathrm{c}}(t)`$. The function $`P_{\omega _\mathrm{c}}(t)`$ (known from the “$`P(E)`$”-theory P(E)\_Devoret ; Nazarov ) can be expressed as $`P_{\omega _\mathrm{c}}(t)=e^{K(t)}`$, with $`K(t)=\frac{4}{\pi \mathrm{}}_0^{\omega _\mathrm{c}}𝑑\omega \frac{J(\omega )}{\omega ^2}\left[\mathrm{coth}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}\omega }{2k_BT}\right)(\mathrm{cos}\omega t1)i\mathrm{sin}\omega t\right]`$. For an Ohmic bath ($`s=1`$), finite temperatures, and $`t>\mathrm{}/k_\mathrm{B}T`$ it reduces to $`\mathrm{Re}K(t)\pi \alpha \frac{2k_\mathrm{B}T}{\mathrm{}}t`$, consistent with Eq. (6). On the other hand, for lower temperatures or shorter times, $`1/\omega _\mathrm{c}<t<\mathrm{}/k_\mathrm{B}T`$, one finds $`\mathrm{Re}K(t)2\alpha \mathrm{ln}(\omega _\mathrm{c}t)`$, implying a power-law decay

$$\widehat{\rho }_{12}(t)=(\omega _\mathrm{c}t)^{2\alpha }e^{i\mathrm{\Delta }Et/\mathrm{}}\widehat{\rho }_{12}(0).$$
(7)
Thus even at $`T=0`$ the off-diagonal elements of the density matrix decay in time. It should be noted that all oscillators up to the cutoff $`\omega _\mathrm{c}`$ contribute to this decay.

For sub-Ohmic baths ($`0<s<1`$) with high density of low-frequency oscillators exponential dephasing is observed for all temperatures and times: $`\widehat{\rho }_{12}\mathrm{exp}[\alpha (\omega _0t)^{1s}]`$ for $`t<\mathrm{}/k_\mathrm{B}T`$, while $`\widehat{\rho }_{12}\mathrm{exp}[\alpha Tt(\omega _0t)^{1s}]`$ for $`t>\mathrm{}/k_\mathrm{B}T`$. Thus the dephasing rate is $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\phi ^{}\alpha ^{1/(1s)}\omega _0`$ for $`T<\alpha ^{1/(1s)}\omega _0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\phi ^{}(\alpha T/\omega _0)^{1/(2s)}\omega _0`$ for $`T>\alpha ^{1/(1s)}\omega _0`$.

In the super-Ohmic regime ($`s>1`$) after an initial decay on time scale $`\omega _\mathrm{c}^1`$, the exponent $`\mathrm{Re}K(t)`$ saturates at a finite value $`\mathrm{Re}K(\mathrm{})=\alpha (\omega _\mathrm{c}/\omega _0)^{s1}`$, and the off-diagonal element $`\widehat{\rho }_{12}`$ stays constant for $`t<\mathrm{}/k_\mathrm{B}T`$. At longer times, $`t>\mathrm{}/k_\mathrm{B}T`$, if $`s<2`$ an exponential decay is observed, $`\widehat{\rho }_{12}(t)\mathrm{exp}[\alpha Tt(\omega _0t)^{1s}]`$, whereas for $`s2`$ there is almost no additional decay.

### II.2 Renormalization effects

Above we assumed factorized initial conditions: the bath was prepared in the equilibrium state characterized by temperature $`T`$, while the spin was prepared in an arbitrary initial state. Thus dephasing is to be expected even at vanishing bath temperature. This initial conditions can be achieved in principle by applying sudden pulses to rotate the spin. In a real experiment, however, the preparation pulse takes a finite time, $`\tau _\mathrm{p}`$, during which the bath oscillators partially adjust to the changing spin state. This will modify the results for dephasing SMS2 .

For example, a $`\pi /2`$-pulse, which transforms the state $`|\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|+|)`$, is accomplished by applying a field $`\widehat{H}_\mathrm{p}=\mathrm{}\omega _\mathrm{p}\widehat{\sigma }_x`$ for a time $`\tau _\mathrm{p}=\pi /2\omega _\mathrm{p}`$. In this case oscillators with high frequencies, $`\omega _k\omega _\mathrm{p}`$, follow the spin adiabatically, while those with low frequency, $`\omega _k\omega _\mathrm{p}`$, do not change their state. Assuming that the oscillators can be split into these two groups, we arrive at an initial state where only the low-frequency oscillators are factorized from the spin $`\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(||\mathrm{g}_{}^\mathrm{h}+||\mathrm{g}_{}^\mathrm{h}\right)|\mathrm{g}_{}^\mathrm{l}`$. Here the superscripts ‘h’ and ‘l’ refer to high and low frequencies and the states $`|\mathrm{g}_/`$ are the ground states of the Hamiltonians $`\widehat{H}_/_k\mathrm{}\omega _k\widehat{a}_k^+\widehat{a}_k\pm \widehat{X}`$.

For the off-diagonal element of the density matrix we now obtain $`\widehat{\rho }_{12}=Z(\omega _\mathrm{c},\omega _\mathrm{p})P_{\omega _\mathrm{p}}(t)`$. Here $`Z(\omega _\mathrm{c},\omega _\mathrm{p})|g_{}^\mathrm{h}|g_{}^\mathrm{h}|`$ describes the effect of high-frequency bath oscillators and should be interpreted as a renormalization, while the factor $`P_{\omega _\mathrm{p}}(t)=\mathrm{g}_{}^\mathrm{l}\left|e^{i_{}t/\mathrm{}}\right|\mathrm{g}_{}^\mathrm{l}`$, which reduces to the same form as $`P_{\omega _\mathrm{c}}(t)`$ described before except that the high-frequency cutoff is reduced to $`\omega _\mathrm{p}`$, describes dephasing due to low-frequency modes.

The criterion to distinguish between both is the fact that renormalization effects are reversible, as illustrated by a continuation of the Gedanken experiment: After the preparation $`\pi /2`$-pulse we allow for a free evolution of the system for some time $`t`$, when the state evolves as $`\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(e^{i\mathrm{\Delta }Et/2}||\mathrm{g}_{}^\mathrm{h}|\mathrm{g}_{}^\mathrm{l}+e^{i\mathrm{\Delta }Et/2}||\mathrm{g}_{}^\mathrm{h}e^{i_{}t/\mathrm{}}|\mathrm{g}_{}^\mathrm{l}\right)`$. Then we apply a $`(\pi /2)`$-pulse (also of width $`\pi /2\omega _\mathrm{p}`$) and measure $`\widehat{\sigma }_z`$. Without dissipation the result would be $`\widehat{\sigma }_z=\mathrm{cos}(\mathrm{\Delta }Et)`$, with dissipation we obtain SMS2  $`\widehat{\sigma }_z=\mathrm{Re}\left[P_{\omega _\mathrm{p}}(t)e^{i\mathrm{\Delta }Et}\right]`$. I.e., the amplitude of the coherent oscillations is reduced by the factor $`|P_{\omega _\mathrm{p}}(t)|`$, associated with slow oscillators. It describes dephasing, since there is no way to reverse the time evolution contained in this factor. In contrast, the factor $`Z(\omega _\mathrm{c},\omega _\mathrm{p})`$ does not appear in the final signal. It originates from the overlap of the high-frequency oscillator wave functions, $`|\mathrm{g}_{}^\mathrm{h}`$ and $`|\mathrm{g}_{}^\mathrm{h}`$. They have been manipulated adiabatically, and this effect can be reversed. This effect is properly described by the concept of renormalization.

The distinction between both effects can also be demonstrated if we discuss the Gedanken experiment using renormalized spins, $`|\stackrel{~}{}||g_{}^\mathrm{h}`$ and $`|\stackrel{~}{}||g_{}^\mathrm{h}`$, and reduce the high-frequency cutoff of the bath to $`\omega _\mathrm{p}`$.

### II.3 Correlation functions

In the limit $`\theta =0`$ we can also calculate exactly the linear response of $`\widehat{\sigma }_x`$ to a weak field $`H_1=(1/2)\delta B_x(t)\sigma _x`$:

$$\chi (t)=\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{\Theta }(t)[\widehat{\sigma }_x(t),\widehat{\sigma }_x(0)].$$
(8)
Using the equilibrium density matrix

$$\widehat{\rho }^{\mathrm{eq}}=\frac{||\widehat{\rho }_{}+e^{\beta \mathrm{\Delta }E}||\widehat{\rho }_{}}{1+e^{\beta \mathrm{\Delta }E}},$$
(9)
where $`\widehat{\rho }_{}\mathrm{exp}(\beta _{})`$ is the bath density matrix adjusted to the spin state $`|`$, and similar for $`\widehat{\rho }_{}`$, we obtain the imaginary part of the Fourier transform of the susceptibility, describing dissipation,

$$\chi ^{\prime \prime }(\omega )=\frac{P(\mathrm{}\omega \mathrm{\Delta }E)+e^{\beta \mathrm{\Delta }E}P(\mathrm{}\omega +\mathrm{\Delta }E)}{2(1+e^{\beta \mathrm{\Delta }E})}\mathrm{}(\omega ).$$
(10)
For an Ohmic bath ($`s=1`$) at $`T=0`$ and positive values of $`\omega `$ we obtain SMS2 ; P(E)\_Devoret ; Nazarov

$`\chi ^{\prime \prime }(\omega )=\mathrm{\Theta }(\mathrm{}\omega \mathrm{\Delta }E){\displaystyle \frac{e^{2\gamma \alpha }(\mathrm{}\omega \mathrm{\Delta }E)^{2\alpha 1}}{2\mathrm{\Gamma }(2\alpha )(\mathrm{}\omega _\mathrm{c})^{2\alpha }}}.`$ (11)
We observe that the dissipative part $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }`$ has a gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$, corresponding to the minimum energy needed to flip the spin, and a power-law behavior as $`\omega `$ approaches the threshold. This behavior of $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }(\omega )`$ parallels the orthogonality catastrophe scenario. It implies that the ground states of the bath for different spin states, $`|\mathrm{g}_{}`$ and $`|\mathrm{g}_{}`$, are macroscopically orthogonal. The form of the response function for $`s=1`$ is also known from the X-ray absorption in metals. For sub-ohmic spectra, as $`s`$ decreases the $`T=0`$ shape of $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }(\omega )`$ gradually evolves towards a bell shape with width given by the dephasing rate. At $`s=0`$ it becomes a Lorentzian, which corresponds to the exponential decay of $`|P(t)|`$ in this case.

As $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }(\omega )`$ characterizes the dissipation it is interesting to distinguish again the roles of high and low frequency oscillators. We use the spectral decomposition at $`T=0`$,

$$\chi ^{\prime \prime }(\omega )=\pi \underset{\nu }{}|0\left|\sigma _x\right|\nu |^2\left[\delta (\omega E_\nu )\delta (\omega +E_\nu )\right],$$

where $`\nu `$ denotes the eigenstates of the system. These are $`||n_{}`$ and $`||n_{}`$, where $`|n_/`$ denote the excited oscillator states of the Hamiltonians $`_/`$. The ground state is $`||g_{}`$, and the only excited states contributing to $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }(\omega )`$ are $`||n_{}`$ with $`_{}|n_{}=(\omega \mathrm{\Delta }E)|n_{}`$. I.e. all oscillators with frequencies $`\omega _k>\omega \mathrm{\Delta }E`$ have to be in the ground state. Thus we find for $`\omega _\mathrm{p}>\omega \mathrm{\Delta }E`$

$$\chi _{\omega _\mathrm{c}}^{\prime \prime }(\omega )=Z^2(\omega _\mathrm{c},\omega _\mathrm{p})\chi _{\omega _\mathrm{p}}^{\prime \prime }(\omega ).$$
(12)
To interpret this result we note that for a model including a $`g`$factor in the coupling to transverse fields, $`H_1=(g/2)\delta B_x(t)\widehat{\sigma }_x`$, the energy absorption is proportional to $`g^2`$. Thus, the response function (12) of the spin at frequencies $`\omega <\omega _\mathrm{p}+\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ coincides with the one of a model with $`g=Z(\omega _\mathrm{c},\omega _\mathrm{p})`$ and cutoff $`\omega _\mathrm{p}`$. Again, this property of the high-frequency oscillators is naturally associated with a renormalization phenomenon.

## III  Particle plus oscillator bath

In this section we consider an exactly solvable special case of the Caldeira-Leggett model CL , namely a free particle coupled linearly to a bath of oscillators,

$$\widehat{H}=\frac{\widehat{p}^2}{2m}+\underset{k}{}\left[\frac{\widehat{P}_k^2}{2m_k}+\frac{m_k\omega _k^2}{2}\left(\widehat{R}_k\frac{c_k}{m_k\omega _k^2}\widehat{x}\right)^2\right].$$
(13)
The properties of this model strongly depend on the frequency spectrum of the bath. Here we consider mostly the Ohmic case with

$$J(\omega )\frac{\pi }{2}\underset{k}{}\frac{c_k^2}{m_k\omega _k}\delta (\omega \omega _k)=m\gamma \omega \theta (\omega _\mathrm{c}\omega ),$$
(14)
where $`\gamma `$ is the damping rate in the equation of motion derived from (13) in the classical limit.

### III.1 Equilibrium density matrix at $`T=0.`$

For an Ohmic spectrum (14) in the ground state of the total system (particle plus bath) the reduced density matrix of the particle $`\widehat{\rho }(x_1x_2)=𝑑R_k\mathrm{\Psi }_0(x_1,R_k)\mathrm{\Psi }_0^{}(x_2,R_k)`$, is found to be

$$\widehat{\rho }(x_1x_2)=\mathrm{exp}\left[(x_1x_2)^2/2L_\phi ^2\right].$$
(15)
I.e. the density matrix decays if $`|x_1x_2|`$ exceeds a certain length $`L_\phi `$, which for an Ohmic spectrum is

$$L_\phi =\sqrt{\frac{\pi \mathrm{}}{m\gamma \mathrm{ln}(\omega _\mathrm{c}/\gamma )}}.$$
(16)
This decay can be observed in equilibrium interference experiments, e.g., in the persistent current of a particle in a ring threaded by a magnetic flux. For a free particle the amplitude of the current decays with increasing ring radius $`R`$ as $`I1/mR^2`$. If the particle is coupled to an Ohmic bath, this amplitude decays exponentially Guinea ; GZ98 , $`I\mathrm{exp}(R^2/L_\phi ^2)`$, on the scale given by $`L_\phi `$.

If the bath spectrum has a gap at low frequencies, then with increasing radius the persistent current decreases rapidly, but beyond some radius it crosses over to the $`1/R^2`$-dependence characteristic for free particles. Examples are provided by the models studied in Refs. Florian ; Guinea ; LM . In this case, the effect of the environment can be interpreted as a renormalization of the particle mass. On the other hand, for an Ohmic bath Guinea ; Herrero ; GZ98 ; Loss  such an interpretation is not possible. In order to get further insight and to distinguish between dephasing and renormalization effects one should analyze the behavior of other physical quantities, such as, e.g., fluctuations Buttiker  or the real-time decay of non-equilibrium states. Below we will provide arguments why we interpret the reduction of the persistent current as evidence of dephasing and justify denoting the length scale $`L_\phi `$ as ‘dephasing length’.

### III.2 Relaxation of a non-equilibrium state

Above we illustrated effects of the bath in the ground state of the total system. To examine the question whether they are related to dephasing processes, we consider the relaxation of an excited state. We start from a factorized initial state $`\widehat{\rho }_{\mathrm{total}}=\widehat{\rho }_{\mathrm{particle}}^{(0)}\widehat{\rho }_{\mathrm{bath}}(T=0)`$, where initially the particle is in a superposition of two plane waves with opposite momenta:

$$\widehat{\rho }_{\mathrm{particle}}^{(0)}=\psi (x_1)\psi ^{}(x_2),\psi (x)=\frac{\mathrm{e}^{ikx}+\mathrm{e}^{ikx}}{\sqrt{2}}.$$
(17)
The time evolution of the reduced density matrix of the particle can be expressed by an influence functional CL  $`\widehat{\rho }_{\mathrm{reduced}}(t,x_1,x_2)=J(t,x_1,x_2,x_1^{(0)},x_2^{(0)})`$ $`\times \widehat{\rho }_{\mathrm{particle}}^{(0)}(x_1^{(0)},x_2^{(0)})dx_1^{(0)}dx_2^{(0)}`$, which in turn can be written as a path integral

$$J=𝒟x_1𝒟x_2\mathrm{e}^{\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}\{S_0[x_1]S_0[x_2]S_\mathrm{R}[x_1,x_2]+iS_\mathrm{I}[x_1,x_2]\}}.$$
(18)
Here $`S_0`$ is the action of a free particle, while $`S_\mathrm{R}`$ and $`S_\mathrm{I}`$ are associated with the bath. For the sake of brevity we do not present explicit forms of $`J`$ and the actions $`S_{\mathrm{R}/\mathrm{I}}.`$ We only note that the path integral (18) can be evaluated exactly with the result CL

$$\rho _{\mathrm{reduced}}(t,x,x)=1+\mathrm{e}^{F(t)}\mathrm{cos}[2kx],$$
(19)
where

$`F(t)={\displaystyle \frac{2k^2}{\pi m\gamma }}{\displaystyle _0^t}𝑑t_1{\displaystyle _0^t}𝑑t_2{\displaystyle _0^{\omega _c}}𝑑\omega \mathrm{}\omega \mathrm{coth}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}\omega }{2T}}`$
$`\times \mathrm{cos}[\omega (t_1t_2)](1\mathrm{e}^{\gamma t_1})(1\mathrm{e}^{\gamma t_2}).`$ (20)
The exponent $`F(t)`$ describes the suppression of interference, i.e. dephasing. We note that it contains only $`\mathrm{coth}\frac{\mathrm{}\omega }{2T},`$ rather than the combination $`\mathrm{coth}\frac{\mathrm{}\omega }{2T}1`$ expected from Golden Rule type arguments. The function $`F(t)`$ arises as the imaginary part of the action $`S_\mathrm{I}`$ (18) evaluated on the saddle-point paths $`x_{1,2}`$. It is, thus, affected by $`S_\mathrm{R}`$ through the damping of these paths, which leads to the factors $`1\mathrm{exp}[\gamma t_{1,2}]`$ in (20). The role of $`S_\mathrm{R}`$ has been discussed recently also in Refs Jan ; Florian1 .

The dephasing time is naturally defined from the condition $`F(\tau _\phi )=1.`$ For long and short times we find

$$F(t)=\frac{4k^2}{\pi m\gamma }\times \{\begin{array}{cc}(\gamma t)^2\mathrm{ln}\omega _\mathrm{c}t\hfill & \text{for}\gamma t1,\hfill \\ \pi \mathrm{ln}(\omega _\mathrm{c}t)\hfill & \text{for}\gamma t1.\hfill \end{array}$$
(21)
Now we distinguish two cases:
(1) $`k1/L_\phi .`$ In this case the short-time asymptotic is sufficient to determine the dephasing time. We find

$$\tau _\phi \frac{1}{v}\sqrt{\frac{\pi \mathrm{}}{2m\gamma \mathrm{ln}(\pi \mathrm{}\omega _\mathrm{c}^2/4m\gamma v^2)}},\text{with}v=\frac{\mathrm{}k}{m}.$$
(22)
Comparing to Eq. (16) we observe $`L_\phi v\tau _\phi ,`$ i.e., there exists a simple relation between the dephasing time associated with the relaxation of a non-equilibrium state and the ‘dephasing length’ $`L_\phi `$ found as a ground state property. For later use we also note that $`\tau _\phi `$ can be obtained directly from $`S_\mathrm{I},`$ since for $`\gamma t1`$ we have $`F(t)\frac{1}{\mathrm{}}S_\mathrm{I}(t,vt^{},vt^{}).`$ (In this limit the real part of the action $`S_\mathrm{R}`$ (18) has no effect on $`\tau _\phi .`$ On the other hand, it may be important in other contexts, e.g., for the evaluation of the relaxation rates GZ ; Florian1 .)
(2) $`k1/L_\phi .`$ This case is governed by the long-time asymptotics of $`F(t).`$ The classical relaxation, which is influenced by $`S_\mathrm{R},`$ is strong. The interference pattern decays as a power-law with exponentially long dephasing time $`\tau _\phi \omega _\mathrm{c}^1\mathrm{exp}\left[\mathrm{}^2m\gamma /(4m^2v^2)\right]`$. No simple relation between $`\tau _\phi `$ and $`L_\phi `$ can be established in this limit.

### III.3 Correlation functions

The dephasing in time can be observed also in the decay of equilibrium correlation functions, such as $`C(t)=a_1(\widehat{x}(t))a_2(\widehat{x}(0))`$, where $`a_{1,2}(x)`$ are arbitrary functions of coordinates. For translationally invariant systems we can express it by Fourier transforms $`C(t)=\frac{dk}{2\pi }\stackrel{~}{a}_1(k)\stackrel{~}{a}_2(k)K(t,k)`$, depending on the correlator

$$K(t,k)=\mathrm{e}^{ik\widehat{x}(t)}\mathrm{e}^{ik\widehat{x}(0)}.$$
(23)
For a free particle $`K(t,k)=\mathrm{exp}[\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}\frac{\mathrm{}^2k^2}{2m}t]`$ evolves with a pure phase factor, while a decay signals a dephasing process. In the presence of the bath we find an expression analogous to that appearing in the $`P(E)`$theory P(E)\_Devoret ; Nazarov

$`K(t,k)=\mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}k^2\gamma }{\pi m}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{d\omega }{\omega (\omega ^2+\gamma ^2)}}`$
$`\times (\mathrm{coth}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}\omega }{2T}}(1\mathrm{cos}\omega t)+i\mathrm{sin}\omega t)\}.`$ (24)
At $`T=0`$ it reduces to

$$|K_0(t,k)|^2\{\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{\mathrm{}\gamma k^2}{\pi m}\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{1}{\gamma t}\right)t^2\right]\hfill & \text{for}\gamma t1\hfill \\ \mathrm{exp}[\frac{2\mathrm{}k^2}{\pi m\gamma }(\mathrm{ln}\gamma t+0.5772..)]\hfill & \text{for}\gamma t1,\hfill \end{array}$$

decaying on the time scale

$$\tau _\phi \{\begin{array}{cc}(1/v)\sqrt{\pi \mathrm{}/m\gamma \mathrm{ln}[kL_\phi ]}\hfill & \text{for}k1/L_\phi \hfill \\ \gamma ^1\mathrm{exp}\{\pi \mathrm{}\gamma /2mv^2\}\hfill & \text{for}k1/L_\phi .\hfill \end{array}$$
(25)
Again we find a simple relation $`L_\phi v\tau _\phi `$ for $`k1/L_\phi ,`$ but no simple relation in the opposite limit.

To illustrate the respective roles of high- and low-frequency oscillators, it is useful to consider the coupling to only one oscillator. In this case one finds at $`T=0`$

$`K(t)=\mathrm{exp}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{i}{1+\alpha }}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}k^2}{2m}}t{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha \mathrm{}k^2\left(1\mathrm{e}^{i\mathrm{\Omega }t}\right)}{2m\omega (1+\alpha )^{3/2}}}\right\},`$ (26)
where $`\alpha =c^2/mM\omega ^4`$ is the coupling strength, and $`\omega `$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }=\omega \sqrt{1+\alpha }`$ are the bare and renormalized frequency of the oscillator, respectively. The function $`K(t)`$ now displays the phenomenon of beating. If the bath contains many oscillators the beating adds up to an incoherent decay. Clearly this effect cannot be interpreted in terms of renormalization of the particle mass. On the other hand, if the detector is not sensitive to the particle’s position and the frequency of the external field is less than $`\mathrm{\Omega },`$ then only the motion of the center of mass is important and one can consider the system “particle+oscillator” as a single particle, analogue to a molecule with the mass $`M+m`$. This effect can be regarded as a mass renormalization. Finally, we note that the effect of oscillators with very low frequencies can never be interpreted as a mass renormalization.

## IV Particle in a quantum field

Next we consider a particle coupled to an electromagnetic environment as described by the Hamiltonian (1). In the classical limit the fluctuations of the field $`V(t,𝐫)`$ are characterized by the dielectric function $`ϵ(\omega ,𝐤)`$. In general the fluctuations are produced by a quantum environment and, hence, the field should be treated as a quantum field itself. Therefore, within the path integral formulation on the Keldysh contour, the fluctuating field on the forward part of the contour $`V_1(t,𝐫)`$ is to be distinguished from the one on the backward part $`V_2(t,𝐫).`$ Both fields are Gaussian distributed with correlators

$`V_i(t,𝐫)V_j(0,0)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{}I(t,𝐫)+{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{}}{2}}[(1)^iR(t,𝐫)+`$ (27)
$`+(1)^jR(t,𝐫)],`$
where $`I(\omega ,𝐤)=\mathrm{Im}\left(\frac{4\pi }{k^2ϵ(\omega ,𝐤)}\right)\mathrm{coth}\frac{\mathrm{}\omega }{2T}`$ and $`R(\omega ,𝐤)=\frac{4\pi }{k^2ϵ(\omega ,𝐤)}`$. We observe that $`\mathrm{Im}(1/ϵ(\omega ,𝐤))`$ generalizes the spectral density $`J(\omega )`$ in CL-like models. In what follows we concentrate on the Drude model of a normal metal with dielectric function

$$ϵ(\omega ,𝐤)=\frac{4\pi \sigma }{i\omega +Dk^2}.$$
(28)
Similar models have been discussed by Weiss Weiss , Guinea Guinea ; Paco2 , and Cohen Cohen .

The evolution of the density matrix can be described again by an influence functional

$`J`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle 𝒟𝐫_\mathrm{𝟏}𝒟𝐫_\mathrm{𝟐}\mathrm{e}^{\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}_0^t𝑑t^{}\frac{m}{2}(\dot{𝐫}_1^2\dot{𝐫}_2^2)}}`$
$`\times \mathrm{e}^{\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}_0^t𝑑t^{}(eV_1(t^{},𝐫_1)eV_2(t^{},𝐫_2))}_{V_1,V_2},`$
which, after averaging over $`V_{1,2}`$, acquires the form (18) where (using the notation $`𝐫_j^{}=𝐫_j(t^{})`$)

$`S_\mathrm{R}={\displaystyle \frac{e^2}{2}}{\displaystyle _0^t}[R(t^{}t^{\prime \prime },𝐫_1^{}𝐫_1^{\prime \prime })R(t^{}t^{\prime \prime },𝐫_2^{}𝐫_2^{\prime \prime })`$
$`+R(t^{}t^{\prime \prime },𝐫_1^{}𝐫_2^{\prime \prime })R(t^{}t^{\prime \prime },𝐫_2^{}𝐫_1^{\prime \prime })]dt^{}dt^{\prime \prime },`$
$`S_\mathrm{I}={\displaystyle \frac{e^2}{2}}{\displaystyle _0^t}[I(t^{}t^{\prime \prime },𝐫_1^{}𝐫_1^{\prime \prime })+I(t^{}t^{\prime \prime },𝐫_2^{}𝐫_2^{\prime \prime })`$
$`I(t^{}t^{\prime \prime },𝐫_1^{}𝐫_2^{\prime \prime })I(t^{}t^{\prime \prime },𝐫_2^{}𝐫_1^{\prime \prime })]dt^{}dt^{\prime \prime }.`$
### IV.1 Equilibrium properties.

The partition function of the system with Hamiltonian (1) can expressed similar as the corresponding expressions in the real-time formalism by a path integral $`Z𝒟𝐫\mathrm{e}^{(S_0[𝐫]+S_{\mathrm{int}}[𝐫])},`$ where $`S_0[𝐫]=_0^\mathrm{}\beta 𝑑\tau \frac{m\dot{𝐫}^2}{2}`$ and

$`S_{\mathrm{int}}[𝐫]={\displaystyle \frac{e^2}{2}}{\displaystyle _0^\mathrm{}\beta }𝑑\tau {\displaystyle _0^\mathrm{}\beta }𝑑sT{\displaystyle \underset{\omega _\nu }{}}{\displaystyle \frac{d^3𝐤}{(2\pi )^3}}`$
$`\times {\displaystyle \frac{4\pi }{k^2ϵ(i|\omega _\nu |,𝐤)}}\mathrm{e}^{i\omega _\nu (\tau s)+i𝐤(𝐫(\tau )𝐫(s))}.`$ (29)
As an example we consider again the persistent current of a particle on a ring with fluctuations characterized by a Drude dielectric function (28). This problem has been addressed in Ref. Herrero . A decay of the persistent current has been found for radii exceeding a length scale, $`RL_\phi `$,

$$L_\phi l(k_Fl)^2.$$
(30)
Here $`l`$ is the mean free path of electrons in the metal, and $`k_F`$ the Fermi wave vector.

### IV.2 Decay of a non-equilibrium state

Continuing as in previous sections, we consider the time evolution of a non-equilibrium state with factorized initial density matrix. The initial state of the particle is again assumed to be a sum of two counter-propagating plane waves $`\psi _0(𝐫)\mathrm{e}^{i\mathrm{𝐤𝐫}}+\mathrm{e}^{i\mathrm{𝐤𝐫}}.`$ The visibility of the resulting interference pattern decays in time as $`\mathrm{e}^{F(t)}`$. The exact solution of this problem is not possible, but for short times we find

$$F(t)S_\mathrm{I}[𝐯t^{},𝐯t^{}]/\mathrm{}t/\tau _\phi ,$$
(31)
where the effective velocity is $`𝐯=\mathrm{}𝐤/m`$, and

$$\frac{1}{\tau _\phi }\frac{2e^2}{v\pi \mathrm{}}_0^{\mathrm{}}\frac{dk}{k}_0^{kv}𝑑\omega \mathrm{Im}\left(\frac{1}{ϵ(\omega ,𝐤)}\right)\mathrm{coth}\frac{\mathrm{}\omega }{2T}.$$
(32)
We stress that this form is valid only if the effective velocity $`v`$ is high enough, as only in this case the expression (31) is applicable in the whole interval $`0<t<\tau _\phi .`$

The Drude formula gives $`\mathrm{Im}\left(1/ϵ(\omega ,𝐤)\right)=\omega /(4\pi \sigma )`$ for $`k<k_{\mathrm{max}}.`$ Hence Eq. (32) reduces for $`T=0`$ to

$$\frac{1}{\tau _\phi }=\frac{e^2vk_{\mathrm{max}}^2}{8\pi ^2\mathrm{}\sigma },$$
(33)
which allows us to define a velocity-independent dephasing length

$$L_\phi =v\tau _\phi =\frac{8\pi ^2\mathrm{}\sigma }{e^2k_{\mathrm{max}}^2}.$$
(34)
If we choose $`k_{\mathrm{max}}=1/l,`$ where $`l`$ is the mean free path, thus accounting for the fact that the Drude expression is not valid at shorter length scales, we recover (30). I.e., as in the previous models, we observe a close relation between dephasing in real time and the reduction of interference effects in equilibrium.

For completeness, we mention that the correlation function $`K(t)=\mathrm{e}^{ik\widehat{x}(t)}\mathrm{e}^{ik\widehat{x}(0)}`$ also decays at the same time scale $`\tau _\phi .`$

## V Interacting electrons

The model considered in the previous section captures essential features of the problem of interacting electrons in disordered conductors. Both the particle in the example studied above and the electron propagating in a disordered conductor interact with a quantum field $`\widehat{V}(t,𝐫)`$ (in the latter case produced by all other electrons). On the other hand, an important and necessary extension is due to the property that the interacting electron is indistinguishable from those producing the fluctuating quantum field, and the Pauli principle has to be obeyed. A general path integral formulation for this problem of interacting electrons, which accounts for the Pauli principle, was formulated in Ref. GZ  (GZ). Here we do not attempt to repeat this derivation; we merely proceed with a summary of the main conclusions:

The description of GZ yields effective actions $`S_\mathrm{R}`$ and $`S_\mathrm{I}`$ similar to those found above. More precisely, $`S_\mathrm{I}`$ is unchanged, while the function $`R`$ in the expression for $`S_\mathrm{R}`$ should be multiplied by $`12f(H_0(𝐩,𝐫))`$, where $`f(\xi )`$ is the Fermi function and $`H_0`$ the Hamiltonian of a non-interacting electron. This fact has a transparent physical interpretation. Since at low temperature the factor $`12f(\xi )`$ approaches sign$`(\xi \mu )`$ it effectively implies an energy-dependent dissipation: Above the Fermi level ($`\xi >\mu `$) the electron can lose energy due to the interaction with the bath formed by all other electrons, whereas the effect of the same bath for $`\xi <\mu `$ is to push up the holes to the Fermi surface.

The above picture accounts for the difference between the many-body Fermi system and that of a quantum particle distinguishable from its environment. However, as GZ stress this difference is unimportant for the dephasing effect produced by the interaction. The latter effect is due to quantum noise rather than dissipation and it is described by the term $`S_\mathrm{I}`$, which is not sensitive to the Pauli principle. Accordingly, the expression for $`\tau _\phi `$ which they derive GZ  coincides with the one found in the previous section if one sets $`v=v_\mathrm{F}`$. The Pauli principle may influence the quantum corrections to the classical electron action. GZ had argued GZ  that they only determine the pre-exponent, and thus are irrelevant for the dephasing time. On the other hand, von Delft recently conjectured Jan  that this effect may be responsible for the discrepancy between the conclusion of GZ and others AA . In response, GZ GZ02  explicitly analyzed the quantum corrections, thus confirming their earlier conclusions.

## VI Summary

We have studied the effect of interactions and coupling to baths in several model systems. This includes spin-boson models, a particle interacting with a Caldeira-Leggett bath, as well as more general baths with space and time dependent fluctuation. In these models, in contrast to the scattering problems discussed by Imry Imry , we have demonstrated that dephasing effects are observable at low temperature in: ($`i`$) the decay of a non-equilibrium initial state, ($`ii`$) the decay of certain equilibrium correlation and response functions, and ($`iii`$) equilibrium properties: e.g., the suppression of persistent currents.

Although details depend on the model, e.g. the spectrum of the bath, our main conclusions are: (a) In all the models considered we find a reduction of interference effects due to the coupling to the bath down to zero temperature. (b) Similarly we find that dephasing, understood as the decay of non-equilibrium initial states, persists down to zero temperature. (c) Response and correlations functions decay on the same time scales, even if evaluated in the ground state. (d) In some cases the distinction between dephasing and renormalization effects is ambiguous. An example is the reduction of equilibrium interference effects. However, we observe that the coupling to the bath which produces the dephasing in nonequilibrium situations determines in the same combination of parameters the reduction of interference effects. For this reason we associate these effects with dephasing as well. (e) We observe similarities in formulation and results between the model for a particle in a fluctuating field and the problem of interacting electrons in disordered metals.

## ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We thank Y. Makhlin, A. Shnirman, M. Büttiker, F. Guinea, C.P. Herrero, Y. Imry, D. Loss, P. Mohanty, M. Paalanen, J. von Delft, R.A. Webb, and U. Weiss for stimulating discussions. The work is part of the CFN (Center for Functional Nanostructures) which is supported by the DFG (German Science Foundation).


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# Crystal structure, electronic, and magnetic properties of the bilayered rhodium oxide Sr3Rh2O7

## I Introduction

The layered ruthenium oxides Sr2RuO4, Sr3Ru2O7, and the perovskites SrRuO3 and CaRuO3, have attracted much attentions during the last several years primarily because these systems allow quantum phase transitions in clean metals clean  to be addressed experimentally RMP01GRS ; Cambridge99SS ; RMP97SLS ; PRB76JAH . The appearances of novel transitions associated with the correlated 4$`d`$ electrons continues to stir up significant issues within the condensed matter community. The layered member Sr2RuO4, for example, enters a superconducting state at about 1 K in association with a rather unusual spin-triplet type electron-pairing, clearly at odds with predictions of conventional $`s`$wave superconductivity PRB97KI ; PRL01KI . The bilayered member, Sr3Ru2O7, shows non-Fermi liquid transport in the vicinity of a metamagnetic transition at high magnetic field and low temperature, suggesting that the scattering rate of the conduction electrons may be influenced by quantum fluctuations, as opposed to more conventional thermal fluctuations SCIENCE01SAG ; PRL01RSP ; PRB01DJS ; PRB00SII ; PRL98AVP . Finally, data suggest that a quantum critical point exists in the solid solution Sr1-xCaxRuO3 for $`x`$0.7 between ferromagnetic (Sr-side) and nearly ferromagnetic (Ca-side) ordered states PRL99KY ; JPSJ99TK ; JPSJ98TK ; PRB97GC ; PRB01TH ; PRB00TH .

These materials have provided experimental opportunities to study criticality of correlated electrons in the vicinity of the quantum critical points SCIENCE01SAG ; PRL01RSP ; PRB01DJS ; PRB00SII ; PRL98AVP . The present status of investigations of quantum phase transitions and criticality seem far behind that of the conventional transitions that are driven by thermal fluctuations RMP01GRS ; Cambridge99SS ; RMP97SLS ; PRB76JAH . In order to promote progress in the studies of quantum phase transitions and criticality in clean metals, and to answer many open questions aroused thus far, we need further opportunities to study these issues experimentally. Searching for a new class of materials which show quantum critical behavior within realizable magnetic, pressure, or chemical ranges, should be encouraged. High-quality single crystals of these materials, if available, would be highly desirable for experimental investigations.

We have been synthesizing the variety of compounds in the Sr-Rh(IV) oxide system, where Rh is expected to be 4$`d^5(t_{\text{2}g}^5e_\text{g}^0)`$, by applying high-temperature and high-pressure techniques at typically 6 GPa and 1500 C PRB01KY . Besides the counted members of the strontium-rhodium system JACS01KES ; JAC00JRP ; CM98JBC ; JAC97RH , the perovskite-type compound was recently obtained by quenching to room temperature at elevated pressure PRB01KY . The formation of SrRhO3 was an excellent example of what can be achieved by high-pressure techniques – no compounds at the ratio Sr:Rh = 1:1 had ever been reported until the high-pressure experiment. While the Sr substitution for LaRh3+O3 was studied by a regular solid-state-reaction technique at ambient pressure; it was then found that the solubility limit of Sr at the La site was at most 10 %, and the solid solution remained semiconducting in the very narrow region JSSC93TN . It is then clear that the formation of the 100 % end-member SrRhO3 goes far beyond the limit achieved by the regular synthesis study, and it is indicative of the dramatic effectiveness of the high-pressure experiment. This synthesis technique can be expected to uncover further novel electronic materials in addition to SrRhO3.

The magnetic and electrical properties of SrRhO3 were qualitatively similar of those observed in the analogous ruthenium oxide CaRuO3, the latter being a nearly ordered ferromagnetic metal that is probably influenced by spin-fluctuations PRL99KY ; JPSJ99TK ; JPSJ98TK ; PRB97GC ; PRB01TH ; PRB00TH . We had therefore expected unusual electronic properties in the unforeseen compounds in the rhodium oxide system, as well as the analogous ruthenium oxides. We have focused our attention to obtaining further novel materials in the Sr-Rh-O space, and thus far, the Ruddlesden-Popper-type member Sr3Rh2O7 was found. In this paper we present data from neutron diffraction study, magnetic and electrical measurements on a polycrystalline sample of this new phase, and the results are compared to the ruthenium analogue.

## II Experimental

The polycrystalline sample of Sr3Rh2O7 was prepared as follows. The fine and pure ($`99.9\%`$) powders of SrO2, Rh2O3, and Rh were mixed at the compositions Sr3Rh2O7+z, where $`z=`$ 0.0 and 0.1. Approximately 0.2 grams of each stoichiometry was placed into a platinum capsule and then compressed at 6 GPa in a high-pressure apparatus, which was originally developed in our laboratory press . The sample was then heated at 1500 C for 1 hr and quenched to room temperature before releasing the pressure. The quality of the products was investigated by means of powder x-ray diffraction (CuK$`\alpha `$). The x-ray profile was carefully obtained at room temperature using the high-resolution-powder diffractometer (RINT-2000 system, developed by RIGAKU, CO), which was equipped with a graphite monochromator on the counter side. We found that the both samples were of high quality; there were no significant impurities in either product, and no remarkable difference between them. The x-ray pattern for the powder sample at $`z=`$ 0.0 is shown in Fig.1. A quasi-tetragonal cell with $`a=`$ 5.474(1) Å and $`c=`$ 20.88(1) Å was tentatively applied to the data, and a clear assignment of ($`hkl`$) numbers to all the major peaks was obtained, indicating the high quality of the sample. The one probable impurity phase (less than 1%) was SrRhO3 PRB01KY . The major phase in the samples could be reasonably assigned to Sr3Rh2O7, of which there are no known records in the literature.

Possible oxygen vacancies in the compound were quantitatively investigated in detail by thermogravimetric analysis. Approximately 30 milligrams of the $`z=`$ 0.0 powder was slowly heated at 5 C/min in a gas mixture (3% hydrogen in argon) and held at 800 C until the weight reduction became saturated. Calculated oxygen composition from the weight loss data was 7.01 per formula unit, indicating good oxygen stoichiometry.

Another sample of Sr3Rh2O7, prepared at identical synthesis condition, was used for structural study by means of neutron diffraction. The powder neutron data of powder sample of Sr3Rh2O7 ($``$0.2 grams) were collected at room temperature using the BT-1 high-resolution powder diffractometer at the NIST Center for Neutron Research, employing a Cu(311) monochromator to produce a monochromatic neutron beam of wavelength 1.5396 Å. Collimators with horizontal divergences of 15, 20, and 7 of arc were used before and after the monochromator, and after the sample, respectively. The intensities were measured in steps of 0.05 in the 2$`\theta `$ range 3–168. The structural parameters were refined using the program GSAS GSAS . The neutron scattering amplitudes used in the refinements were 0.702, 0.593, and 0.581 ($`\times `$10-12 cm) for Sr, Rh, and O, respectively.

The magnetic properties of the sample ($`z=`$0.0) were studied in a commercial apparatus (Quantum Design, MPMS-XL system) between 2 K and 390 K. The magnetic susceptibility data were collected at 1 kOe and 70 kOe, and magnetization curves were recorded between -70 kOe and 70 kOe after cooling the sample at each 2 K, 5 K and 50 K. The electrical resistivity was measured by a conventional ac-four-terminal technique at zero field and at 70 kOe. The ac-gauge current was 0.1 mA at 30 Hz. The selected sample ($`z=`$0.0) was cut out into a bar shape, and the each face was polished with aluminum-oxide-lapping film. In order to decrease the contact resistance with the sample, gold pads ($``$ 200 nm in thickness) were deposited at four locations along the bar, and silver epoxy was used to fix platinum wires ($``$ 30 $`\mu `$m$`\varphi `$) at each gold terminal. The contact resistance at the four terminals was less than 8 ohm.

## III Results and Discussions

The crystal structure of the title compound was investigated by means of neutron powder diffraction at room temperature. In an effort to maximize the homogeneity of the sample, only one pellet was subjected to the neutron study rather than a mixture of multiple pellets, even though the total sample mass was far below the regular level. The degree of local structure distortions, such as cooperative rotations of metal-oxygen octahedra and frequency of stacking faults in the layered structure, may depend sensitively on the synthesis conditions. Technical problems, such as small sample volume within the high-pressure apparatus and uncertainties in the maximum temperature during the heating process, could contribute to small variations in sample quality. Measuring an individual pellet by neutron powder diffraction was intended to preclude possible errors in the analysis of the local structural distortion. The structural distortion was naturally expected in Sr3Rh2O7 based on the analogy with Sr3Ru2O7, since the ionic size of VIRh4+ (0.60 Å) ACA76RDA  is very close to that of VIRu4+ (0.62 Å) JSSC00HS ; PRB00HS ; PRB98QH . Furthermore, the expected distortions were hard to detect with normal x-ray diffraction.

The pellet as made in a platinum capsule was highly polished with a fine sandpaper to reduce possible Pt contamination. The pellet ($``$0.2 grams) was then finely ground for the neutron diffraction study. The neutron data were collected at room temperature for approximately one and a half days; the profile is shown in Fig.2. Although the sample powder was exposed to the neutron beam for many hours, the intensity did not reach normal levels due to the small sample mass. It was, however, sufficient enough to deduce structural information from the data. The small impurity contribution, found in the x-ray study, and possible magnetic contributions were not investigated due to the low intensity level.

The major concern in the structure investigation of the title compound was whether a cooperative rotation of the metal-oxygen octahedra occurs as is found in the analogous Sr3Ru2O7 JSSC00HS ; PRB00HS ; PRB98QH . In the study of the $`ruthenium`$ oxide by means of neutron diffraction, eight independent modes for the cooperative rotation ($`Bbcm`$, $`Bbcb`$, $`Bbmm`$, $`Bmcm`$, $`P4_2/mnm`$, $`P4_2/mcm`$, $`P4_2/m`$, $`B112/m`$), combinations of some of those, and the rotation-free mode ($`I4/mmm`$) were tested. It was found that the $`Bbcb`$ mode resulted in the highest quality of the profile analysis JSSC00HS . Here, in the analysis of the profile of Sr3Rh2O7, we first applied the $`Bbcb`$ mode and found it to produce reasonable solutions ($`R_\mathrm{p}=`$ 5.42%, $`R_{\mathrm{wp}}=`$ 6.47%) to describe the cooperative rotation of RhO6 octahedra in Sr3Rh2O7. Although the $`Bbcb`$ mode is the most likely structural distortion in Sr3Ru2O7, other lower symmetry modes, as mentioned above, are still possible. Unfortunately, the low intensity of the data in the present study made it difficult to completely dismiss the other modes. Detailed analysis of the issue is left for future work, in which further progress of the high-pressure-synthesis technique will allow us to obtain a larger amount of highly homogenized sample.

Probable stacking faults were examined by introducing the O(3’) elements with some constraints (caption of Table 1), as was done for Sr3Ru2O7. As a result, significant improvements in the overall fit were obtained ($`<`$2% in $`R`$ values). The estimated occupancy of O(3’) was $``$8%, indicating the frequency of the stacking faults. The estimated structural parameters of Sr3Rh2O7, and selected bond distance and angles, are arranged in Table 1. The isotropic atomic displacement parameter ($`B`$) of the rhodium ion (8$`e`$–site) is rather unusual, possibly because the low level of the intensity statistics reduced reliability of the thermal parameters somewhat. We believe further structure studies, on not only a larger amount of sample powder, but also a single crystal of Sr3Rh2O7, might provide much more reliable data.

The structure of Sr3Rh2O7 is shown in Fig.3. The directions of rotation are indicated by circular arrows. The rotation results in the bond angle of Rh–O(3)–Rh being 159 degrees rather than 180 degrees for an ideally rotation-free structure. The rotation angle of RhO6 octahedra along $`c`$axis is 10.5 degrees, which is slightly greater than that of RuO6 octahedra in the analogous Sr3Ru2O7 (6.8 degrees) JSSC00HS . A general diagram for the degree of distortion in Ruddlesden-Popper-type compounds $`A_3M_2`$O7 ($`A:`$ alkaline and/or rare earth metal; $`M:`$ transition metal) was proposed, in which the real members of $`A_3M_2`$O7 were divided into two categories: one with and one without distortions associated with cooperative rotations of the $`M`$O6 octahedra JSSC00HS . A criterion named “zero strain line” was established for judging which category each member should belong to. The combination of radii of VIRh4+ (0.60 Å) and XIISr2+ (1.44 Å) in Sr3Rh2O7 ACA76RDA  yields a point below the “zero strain line” in the proposed diagram, implying that Sr3Rh2O7 should be in the distortion-free category. This classification for the Sr3Rh2O7 case appears to be incorrect as dictated by the data in the present study JSSC00HS . Characteristics of chemical bonds may play a pivotal role in the distortion process, and their consideration may be necessary if a complete diagram is to be developed.

The electrical resistivity data of the polycrystalline sample of Sr3Rh2O7 are shown in Fig.4. Temperature and magnetic field dependence was studied between 2 K and 390 K. The resistivity at room temperature is $``$75 m$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$-cm, which is approximately one magnitude lager than that of the 3D SrRhO3 PRB01KY  and one magnitude smaller than that of the 2D Sr2RhO4, which is a barely metallic conductor JSSC95MI ; PRB94TS . The series of the rhodium oxides Srn+1RhnO3n+1 ($`n=`$ 1, 2, and $`\mathrm{}`$) consist of solely homovalent elements including Rh4+ (4$`d^5:`$ may be in the low-spin configuration $`t_{2\mathrm{g}}^5e_\mathrm{g}^0`$), and all of them clearly show metallic character, while the electronic dimensionality varies from two to three. This suggests that the metallic character is developed with increasing electronic dimensionality. Further studies involving band structure calculations could be significant in revealing how essential the dimensionality is to the electronic transport of the rhodium oxide series. A small magnetic field dependence was found at low temperature ($`<20`$K) as shown in the inset of Fig.4. Future studies on single crystals may provide insight into the mechanism responsible for the positive magnetoresistance.

The Seebeck coefficient of the title compound was measured and compared with that of the perovskite SrRhO3 (Fig.5) MRS02KY . The Seebeck coefficient of Sr2RhO4, reported previously, was approximately $`+40\mu `$V/K at room temperature and decreases linearly to approach zero upon cooling PRB94TS . The data of all three compounds (Sr2RhO4, Sr3Rh2O7, and SrRhO3) are qualitatively consistent with the metallic conductivity observed for each, and indicate that the sign of the majority carriers is positive in the metallic conducting state. Among the Seebeck coefficient of the three compounds, it is hard to find a remarkable difference qualitatively and quantitatively, in contrast to the case of the resistivity data. Although a small change in slop in the Seebeck coefficient was observed in both Sr3Rh2O7 and SrRhO3 at approximately 150 K (Fig.5), there were, however, no corresponding anomalies in other transport data around that temperature. The change may be structurally related, and further studies of the temperature dependence of structural distortions may help to address the issue.

The specific heat data are plotted as $`C_\mathrm{p}/T`$ vs $`T^2`$ (main panel) and $`C_\mathrm{p}`$ vs $`T`$ (inset) in Fig.6. The electronic and lattice contributions to the specific heat can be isolated from the data in the main panel by using the following low-temperature form ($`T\mathrm{\Theta }_\mathrm{D}`$):

$`{\displaystyle \frac{C_\text{v}}{T}}=\gamma +{\displaystyle \frac{12\pi ^4}{5}}Nk_\text{B}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{\Theta }_\text{D}^3}}\right)T^2,`$
where $`\mathrm{\Theta }_\mathrm{D}`$, $`\gamma `$, $`\beta `$, $`k_\mathrm{B}`$, and $`N`$ are Debye temperature, Sommerfeld’s coefficient, Boltzmann’s constant, and Avogadro’s number, respectively. The two independent parameters, $`\mathrm{\Theta }_\mathrm{D}`$ and $`\gamma `$, which indicate physical characteristics of the compound, were estimated by a least-square method in the linear range between 150 K2 and 450 K2; we obtained $`\mathrm{\Theta }_\mathrm{D}`$ 172 K and $`\gamma `$ -0.00199 J$``$mol-Rh$`{}_{}{}^{1}`$K-2. The estimation of both $`\gamma `$ and $`\mathrm{\Theta }_\mathrm{D}`$ was, however, not solid; a small degree of variations was found. For example, when a $`T^4`$ term was added to the equation, the fits achieved were $`\mathrm{\Theta }_\mathrm{D}`$ of $``$ 180 K, $`\gamma `$ of $``$0.00365 J$``$mol-Rh$`{}_{}{}^{1}`$K-2, and $`\beta `$ (the coefficient of the $`T^4`$ term) of 7.93$`\times `$10-8 J$``$mol-Rh$`{}_{}{}^{1}`$K-6, as indicated by the dotted curve. Although it is technically difficult to determine a precise value for $`\gamma `$, it should, however, be very small in contrast to that of the metallic SrRhO3 ($`\gamma `$ = 7.6 mJ/mol-Rh/K2) PRB01KY . The depressed metallic character of the bilayered Sr3Rh2O7 is reflective in the very small value of $`\gamma `$. It would be interesting to compare the value of $`\gamma _{\mathrm{band}}`$, computed from the density of states at the Fermi level by means of band-structure calculations, with and without consideration of spin polarization. In the above analysis we assumed that $`C_\text{p}`$ was approximately equal to $`C_\text{v}`$ because it was in the low temperature limit.

As expected from the Debye temperature (170 K–180 K) of the layered oxide Sr3Rh2O7, even within the studied temperature range, the specific heat approaches the high-temperature limit, roughly calculated to be $``$150 J$``$mol-Rh$`{}_{}{}^{1}`$K-1 \[6(atoms per unit cell) $`\times `$3 (dimensionality per atom) $`\times k_\mathrm{B}`$N(Boltzmann and Avogadro’s constants)\]. The Debye temperature of Sr3Rh2O7 is close to that of the perovskite SrRhO3 ($`\mathrm{\Theta }_\mathrm{D}`$ 190 K). To our knowledge, the Debye temperature of Sr2RhO4 has not been reported.

A small component, which appears in the low-temperature limit of the $`C_\text{p}/T`$ vs $`T^2`$ curve (the data points gradually apart from the fitting curve on cooling), is probably due to a magnetic origin. In order to make clear the origin of the probable magnetic component, several magnetic models were tested on the specific heat data. The studies, however, did not yield a clear assignment of magnetic model to the origin because there were still too many possibilities related to a nuclear Schottky specific heat, an empirical temperature-independent term, ferro- and antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations, and associations of some of those. As far as the present investigation goes, it was therefore unlikely to establish a clear picture with a reasonable sense to understand the appearance of the very small component in the low-temperature specific heat data.

Nearly-temperature-independent magnetic susceptibility data, measured between 2 K and 390 K, are shown in Fig.7. The majority of the data could be characterized as Pauli paramagnetic with an enhanced $`\chi (0)`$. The $`\chi (300)`$ is approximately 1.0$`\times 10^3`$ emu/mol-Rh, nearly one magnitude larger than those of normal paramagnetic metals, including Rh(IV)O2 PPS61HK ; PPS60DWB ; PPS51FEH . This is a curious result, considering the very small $`\gamma `$-value estimated from the specific heat measurements. More will be said on this below. Alternatively, a layered spin system, despite the metallic character, is probable to account for the magnetic characteristics with the broad maximum at about 200 K as is the case for the Sr doped La2CuO4 RMP98MI . Further studies to explore probable localized magnetic moments should be of interest. The steep upturn in low temperature at 1 kOe is due to a small concentration of magnetic impurities, which could be well fit to a Curie-Weiss law; the magnetic parameters were $`C=`$ 0.00194 emu K/mol-Rh (Curie constant), $`\theta _\mathrm{W}=`$ -0.1462 K (Weiss temperature), and $`\chi _0=`$ 9.21$`\times 10^4`$ emu/mol-Rh (temperature-independent susceptibility). The rather small value of $`\theta _\mathrm{W}`$, less than 1 K, indicates that the diluted moments are free from magnetic interactions, as is often the cases. The $`M`$ vs $`H`$ curves measured at 2 K, 5 K and 50 K are shown in the inset of Fig.7. The small component ($``$0.001$`\mu _\mathrm{B}`$ at 70 kOe and 5 K), which is superimposed on the paramagnetic background, is probably due to the magnetic impurity outlined above. While a metamagnetic transition was clearly found in the analogous Sr3Ru2O7 at $``$ 50 kOe and 2.8 K in fields both parallel and perpendicular to the $`c`$axis of a single crystal PRL01RSP , no trace of one could be seen in the data of Sr3Rh2O7 even at 2.0 K. Such a transition may be shifted to higher fields in the Rh sample, and in order to investigate this possibility, a pulsed high-magnetic-field study at low temperature is scheduled for Sr3Rh2O7.

## IV Conclusions

High-pressure synthesis techniques have been utilized in an effort to add to the variety of experimental systems currently being used in the study of quantum phase transitions and criticality. The systematic synthesis experiments performed thus far on the Rh4+ (4$`d^5:t_{2\mathrm{g}}^5e_\mathrm{g}^0`$, expected) oxide system have revealed a new class of Ruddlesden-Popper phases Srn+1RhnO3n+1 ($`n=`$ 1 \[ref. 31 and 32\], 2 \[this work\], and $`\mathrm{}`$ \[ref. 19\]). The neutron diffraction study clearly reveals that the new metallic rhodium oxide, Sr3Rh2O7, is isostructural to the ruthenium oxide Sr3Ru2O7, which has received much recent attention due to its intriguing quantum characteristics. The magnetic and transport data presented here, however, do not indicate clear contributions from quantum fluctuations in the studied range of temperature and magnetic field, in contrast to what was observed in the ruthenium compound PRB98SI ; JSSC95RJC . Since the Curie-Weiss-like behavior was not seen (except for the impurity term) even in the high-temperature portion of the magnetic susceptibility data, the self-consistent renormalization theory of spin fluctuations for both antiferro- and ferromagnetic nearly-ordered magnetic metals may not be applicable to the present magnetic and specific heat data Springer85TM ; AP00TM .

While the magnetic susceptibility data of Sr3Rh2O7 suggest a rather large density of states at the Fermi level (similar to what was observed in SrRhO3), the linear term in the heat capacity is, however, remarkably small – on the order of semimetals like Bi and Sb. The resistivity is about 10 times larger than that of SrRhO3, qualitatively consistent with the rather small $`\gamma `$. It is possible that the influence of disorder in the polycrystalline sample at a level undetectable by the techniques in the present study masks the intrinsic nature of ideally clean Sr3Rh2O7. In the studies of the ruthenium oxides, for example, the quantum properties were found to be rather fragile to such disorder PRL02LC ; PRL98APM . Further information, including carrier density, degree of disorder, band structure, would prove useful in clearly identifying the intrinsic properties of Sr3Rh2O7. High-quality single crystals of sufficient size for electronic transport studies synthesized in the high-pressure cell would afford the opportunity of further investigations of Sr3Rh2O7 at a much deeper level.

In the ruthenium oxide family, much effort have been spent in searching for new superconducting compounds, but only the 214 phase is a superconductor. One member found recently (non-superconducting) is the double-layered Sr3Ru2O7F2, where Ru ions are pentavalent PRB00RKL . One electronic hole per formula unit was formally doped into metallic Sr3Ru2O7, and an ordered magnetic moment ($``$1$`\mu _\text{B}`$ per Ru) was found below about 185 K. On the other hand, Sr3Rh2O7 has five 4$`d`$ electrons per formula unit, i.e. one electron per Ru is hypothetically doped into Sr3Ru2O7, and no localized moments observed. The following is a general description of the three bilayered compounds: The localized character at the 4$`d^3`$ layered compound gets weakened at 4$`d^4`$ and becomes much more itinerant at 4$`d^5`$. The overall comprehensive picture about the electronic structure of various 4$`d`$ compounds has probably not yet been established. Further studies, including theoretical considerations and a systematic study of isovalent and aliovalent chemical doping to the series Srn+1RhnO3n+1 would be of interest. Further progress of the high-pressure-synthesis technique may allow future investigations of new and unforeseen electronic materials those are potentially intriguing.

###### Acknowledgements.

We wish to thank Dr. M. Akaishi (NIMS) and Dr. S. Yamaoka (NIMS) for their advice on the high-pressure experiments. This research was supported in part by Superconducting Materials Research Project, administrated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. One of us (K.Y.) was supported by the Domestic Research Fellowship, administrated by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.


text:
# DIRAC EQUATION IN SPACETIMES WITH NON-METRICITY AND TORSION

## 1 Introduction

Einstein’s general relativity provides an elegant (pseudo-)Riemannian formulation of gravitation in the absence of matter. In the variational approach, Einstein’s field equations are obtained by considering variations of the Einstein-Hilbert action with respect to the metric and its associated Levi-Civita connection of the spacetime. That is, the absence of matter means that the connection is metric compatible and torsion free, a situation which is natural but not always convenient. A number of developments in physics in recent years suggest the possibility that the treatment of spacetime might involve more than a Riemannian structure:

* The vain effort to quantize gravity with standard field theoretic methods. This is perhaps so far the strongest piece of evidence for going beyond a geometry dominated by classical metric concepts.
* The generalization of the theory of elastic continua to 4-dimensional space-time. This may provide a physical interpretation of the non-Riemannian structures which emerge in the theory.
* The study of the early universe, in particular singularity theorems, gave us clues for solving the problem of unification of all interactions and the related problem of compactification of dimensions. Inflationary models with dilaton-induced Weyl co-vector is another problem where we meet non-Riemannian structures.
* The description of hadronic (or nuclear) matter in terms of extended structures. The string theories are the best examples.

In the framework of string theories there are hints that by using non-Riemannian geometry we may accommodate several degrees of freedom coming from the low energy limit of string interactions in terms of a connection with non-metricity and torsion . It is interesting to observe that, since string theories are expected to produce effects which are at least in principle testable at low energies, there may be chances to obtain non-Riemannian models with predictions that can be tested.

Although theories in which the non-Riemannian geometrical fields are dynamical in the absence of matter are more elusive to interpret, they may play an important role in certain astrophysical contexts. Part of the difficulty in interpreting such fields is that there is little experimental guidance available for the construction of a viable theory that can compete effectively with general relativity in domains that are currently accessible to observation. In such circumstances one must be guided by the classical solutions admitted by theoretical models that admit dynamical non-Riemannian structures .

In the next section we give some basic concepts in differential geometry and mathematical tools in order to perform the calculations given later in the paper. In section 3 we write down the Dirac equation in non-Riemannian spacetimes with non-vanishing curvature, torsion and non-metricity by the Kosmann lift of the connection given in the frame bundle to the spinor bundle . The physical meaning of curvature is well-known. In order to gain insight concerning torsion and non-metricity we investigate the low energy limit of the Dirac equation . While doing this we perform the Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation ; thus uncoupling the positive and the negative energy states of the Dirac equation. The final section is reserved for discussion.

## 2 Non-Riemannian spacetime

Spacetime is denoted by the triple $`\{M,g,\}`$ where M is a 4-dimensional differentiable manifold, equipped with a Lorentzian metric $`g`$ which is a second rank, covariant, symmetric, non-degenerate tensor and $``$ is a linear connection which defines parallel transport of vectors (or more generally tensors). With an orthonormal basis $`\{X_a\}`$,

$`g=\eta _{ab}e^ae^b,a,b,\mathrm{}=0,1,2,3`$ (1)
where $`\eta _{ab}`$ is the Minkowski metric which is a matrix whose diagonal terms are $`1,1,1,1`$ and $`\{e^a\}`$ is the orthonormal co-frame. The local orthonormal frame $`\{X_a\}`$ is dual to the co-frame $`\{e^a\}`$;

$`e^b(X_a)=\delta _a^b.`$ (2)
The spacetime orientation is set by the choice $`ϵ_{0123}=+1`$. In addition, the connection is specified by a set of connection 1-forms $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{}^{a}{}_{b}{}^{}`$. The non-metricity 1-forms, torsion 2-forms and curvature 2-forms are defined through the Cartan structure equations

$`2Q_{ab}`$ $`:=`$ $`D\eta _{ab}=\mathrm{\Lambda }_{ab}+\mathrm{\Lambda }_{ba},`$ (3)
$`T^a`$ $`:=`$ $`De^a=de^a+\mathrm{\Lambda }_{}^{a}{}_{b}{}^{}e^b,`$ (4)
$`R_{}^{a}{}_{b}{}^{}`$ $`:=`$ $`D\mathrm{\Lambda }_{}^{a}{}_{b}{}^{}:=d\mathrm{\Lambda }_{}^{a}{}_{b}{}^{}+\mathrm{\Lambda }_{}^{a}{}_{c}{}^{}\mathrm{\Lambda }_{}^{c}{}_{b}{}^{}.`$ (5)
d, D, $`ı_a`$, * denote the exterior derivative, the covariant exterior derivative, the interior derivative and the Hodge star operator, respectively. The linear connection 1-forms can be decomposed uniquely as follows

$`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{}^{a}{}_{b}{}^{}=\omega _{}^{a}{}_{b}{}^{}+K_{}^{a}{}_{b}{}^{}+q_{}^{a}{}_{b}{}^{}+Q_{}^{a}{}_{b}{}^{}`$ (6)
where $`\omega _{}^{a}{}_{b}{}^{}`$ are the Levi-Civita connection 1-forms that satisfy

$`de^a+\omega _{}^{a}{}_{b}{}^{}e^b=0,`$ (7)
$`K_{}^{a}{}_{b}{}^{}`$ are the contortion 1-forms such that

$`K_{}^{a}{}_{b}{}^{}e^b=T^a,`$ (8)
and $`q_{}^{a}{}_{b}{}^{}`$ are the anti-symmetric tensor 1-forms defined by

$`q_{ab}=(ı_aQ_{bc})e^c+(ı_bQ_{ac})e^c.`$ (9)
In the above decomposition the symmetric part

$`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{(ab)}=Q_{ab}`$ (10)
while the anti-symmetric part

$`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{[ab]}=\omega _{ab}+K_{ab}+q_{ab}.`$ (11)
It is cumbersome to take into account all components of non-metricity and torsion in gravitational models. Therefore we will be content with dealing only with certain irreducible parts of them to gain physical insight. The irreducible decompositions of torsion and non-metricity invariant under the Lorentz group are summarily given below. For details one may consult Ref. . The non-metricity 1-forms $`Q_{ab}`$ can be split into their trace-free $`\overline{Q}_{ab}`$ and the trace parts as

$`Q_{ab}=\overline{Q}_{ab}+\eta _{ab}Q`$ (12)
where the Weyl 1-form $`Q=Q_{}^{a}{}_{a}{}^{}`$ and $`\eta ^{ab}\overline{Q}_{ab}=0`$. Let us define

$`\mathrm{\Lambda }_b`$ $`:=`$ $`ı_a\overline{Q}_{}^{a}{}_{b}{}^{},\mathrm{\Lambda }:=\mathrm{\Lambda }_ae^a,`$
$`\mathrm{\Theta }_b`$ $`:=`$ $`{}_{}{}^{}(\overline{Q}_{ab}e^a),\mathrm{\Theta }:=e^b\mathrm{\Theta }_b,\mathrm{\Omega }_a:=\mathrm{\Theta }_a{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}ı_a\mathrm{\Theta }`$ (13)
as to use them in the decomposition of $`Q_{ab}`$ as

$`Q_{ab}=Q_{ab}^{(1)}+Q_{ab}^{(2)}+Q_{ab}^{(3)}+Q_{ab}^{(4)}`$ (14)
where

$`Q_{ab}^{(2)}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}{}_{}{}^{}(e_a\mathrm{\Omega }_b+e_b\mathrm{\Omega }_a)`$ (15)
$`Q_{ab}^{(3)}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{9}}(\mathrm{\Lambda }_ae_b+\mathrm{\Lambda }_be_a{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\eta _{ab}\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ (16)
$`Q_{ab}^{(4)}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\eta _{ab}Q`$ (17)
$`Q_{ab}^{(1)}`$ $`=`$ $`Q_{ab}Q_{ab}^{(2)}Q_{ab}^{(3)}Q_{ab}^{(4)}.`$ (18)
We have $`ı^aQ_{ab}^{(1)}=ı^aQ_{ab}^{(2)}=0,\eta ^{ab}Q_{ab}^{(1)}=\eta ^{ab}Q_{ab}^{(2)}=\eta ^{ab}Q_{ab}^{(3)}=0,`$ and $`e^aQ_{ab}^{(1)}=0`$. In a similar way the irreducible decomposition of $`T^a`$’s invariant under the Lorentz group are given in terms of

$`\alpha =ı_aT^a,\sigma =e_aT^a`$ (19)
so that

$`T^a=T_{}^{a}{}_{}{}^{(1)}+T_{}^{a}{}_{}{}^{(2)}+T_{}^{a}{}_{}{}^{(3)}`$ (20)
where

$`T_{}^{a}{}_{}{}^{(2)}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}e^a\alpha ,`$ (21)
$`T_{}^{a}{}_{}{}^{(3)}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}ı^a\sigma ,`$ (22)
$`t^a`$ $`:=`$ $`T_{}^{a}{}_{}{}^{(1)}=T^aT_{}^{a}{}_{}{}^{(2)}T_{}^{a}{}_{}{}^{(3)}.`$ (23)
Here $`ı_at^a=ı_aT_{}^{a}{}_{}{}^{(3)}=0,e_at^a=e_aT_{}^{a}{}_{}{}^{(2)}=0`$. To give the contortion components in terms of the irreducible components of torsion, we firstly write

$`2K_{ab}=ı_aT_bı_bT_a(ı_aı_bT_c)e^c`$ (24)
from (8) and then substituting (20) into above we find

$`2K_{ab}`$ $`=`$ $`ı_at_bı_bt_a(ı_aı_bt_c)e^c`$ (25)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}(e_aı_b\alpha e_bı_a\alpha )`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}(ı_aı_b\sigma ){\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}(ı_aı_bı_c\sigma )e^c.`$
In components $`K_{ab}=K_{c,ab}e^c,t_a=\frac{1}{2}t_{bc,a}e^{bc},\alpha =F_ae^a,\sigma =\frac{1}{3!}\sigma _{abc}e^{abc}`$ this becomes

$`K_{c,ab}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(t_{ab,c}t_{bc,a}+t_{ac,b})`$ (26)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}(F_b\eta _{ac}F_a\eta _{bc}){\displaystyle \frac{1}{6}}\sigma _{abc}.`$
## 3 Dirac equation

Since gauge theories seem important for the description of fundamental interactions it appears natural to exploit any gauge structure present in theories of gravity. Different authors, however, adopt different criteria in order to determine what properties a theory should possess in order for it to qualify as a gauge theory. We take the gravitational gauge group to be the local Lorentz group  and do calculations in terms of $`\mathrm{𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐧}_+(3,1)`$ structure group, that is the double covering of Lorentz group, keeping in mind the inclusion of spin structure. We will work with exterior forms taking their values in the $`𝒞\mathrm{}_{3,1}`$ Clifford algebra. $`𝒞\mathrm{}_{3,1}`$ with an orthonormal basis $`\{\gamma _0,\gamma _1,\gamma _2,\gamma _3\}`$ is generated by the relations

$`\gamma ^a\gamma ^b+\gamma ^b\gamma ^a=2\eta ^{ab}I_{4\times 4}`$ (27)
where we use the following Dirac matrices

$`\gamma _0`$ $`=`$ $`i\left(\begin{array}{cc}I& 0\\ 0& I\end{array}\right),\gamma _1=i\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& \sigma ^1\\ \sigma ^1& 0\end{array}\right)`$ (32)
$`\gamma _2`$ $`=`$ $`i\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& \sigma ^2\\ \sigma ^2& 0\end{array}\right),\gamma _3=i\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& \sigma ^3\\ \sigma ^3& 0\end{array}\right).`$ (37)
Here $`\sigma ^i`$ are the Pauli matrices.

A 4-component Dirac spinor is a section of the spinor bundle over spacetime whose fibers are $`^4`$. This bundle is simply the vector bundle associated to the tangent bundle. Then a connection in the tangent bundle is lifted to the spinor bundle via the Kosmann lift

$`\mathrm{\Omega }={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{ab}\gamma _a\gamma _b`$ (38)
where

$`\gamma _a\gamma _b=\eta _{ab}+2\sigma _{ab}`$ (39)
is the Clifford product in the spinor bundle. The anti-symmetric part of the Clifford product

$`\sigma _{ab}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}[\gamma _a,\gamma _b]`$ (40)
carries a representation of the Lorentz group and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{}^{a}{}_{b}{}^{}`$ is the connection 1-form in the tangent space. The covariant exterior derivative of the Dirac spinor may therefore be written explicitly as

$`D\psi =d\psi +{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{[ab]}\sigma _{ab}\psi +{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}Q\psi .`$ (41)
It should be noted that the spin connection $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ depends on the non-metricity tensor via $`q_{ab}`$ and the Weyl 1-form $`Q`$. Thus the Dirac equation  in a non-Riemannian spacetime is given by

$`{}_{}{}^{}\gamma D\psi +\mu ^{}1\psi =0`$ (42)
where the Clifford algebra $`𝒞\mathrm{}_{3,1}`$-valued 1-form $`\gamma =\gamma ^ae_a`$ and $`\mu =\frac{mc}{\mathrm{}}`$.

### 3.1  A spinning particle in a non-Riemannian spacetime

In this section we investigate the motion of a massive, spinning particle in a non-Riemannian spacetime with curvature, torsion and certain components of non-metricity. In order to do that we construct the Dirac Hamiltonian of the particle. This will be done here in the background Schwarzschild metric of a heavy, static body of mass $`M`$ such as the Sun. In isotropic coordinates $`(t,x,y,z)`$ the metric is given by111We use a unit system such that $`c=G=1`$.

$`g=f^2dt^2+g^2(dx^2+dy^2+dz^2)`$ (43)
where the metric functions $`f`$ and $`g`$ are functions of $`r^2=x^2+y^2+z^2`$ only. The Schwarzschild geometry is specified by the functions

$`f`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1+\xi }{1\xi }},`$ (44)
$`g`$ $`=`$ $`(1\xi )^2,`$ (45)
where $`\xi =\frac{M}{2r}`$. The orthonormal co-frame may be cast as

$`e^0=fdt,e^i=gdx^i,i=1,2,3.`$ (46)
Then the Levi-Civita connection 1-forms are calculated from (7) as

$`\omega _{0i}={\displaystyle \frac{(_if)}{fg}}e^0,\omega _{ij}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{g^2}}[(_jg)e_i(_ig)e_j].`$ (47)
Therefore the covariant exterior derivative of the Dirac spinor $`\psi `$ becomes

$`D\psi `$ $`=`$ $`e^0[{\displaystyle \frac{(_t\psi )}{f}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}Q^0\psi {\displaystyle \frac{(_if)}{fg}}\sigma ^{0i}\psi ]`$ (48)
$`+e^i[{\displaystyle \frac{(_i\psi )}{g}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}Q_i+{\displaystyle \frac{(_jg)}{g^2}}\sigma ^{ij}\psi ]`$
$`+e^c{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{\Omega }_{c,ab}\sigma ^{ab}\psi `$
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{ab}=K_{ab}+q_{ab}`$ and the Weyl 1-form $`Q=Q_ae^a`$. After substituting (48) into (42) and using $`{}_{}{}^{}e_{}^{f}e^a=\eta ^{fa}{}_{}{}^{}1`$ we obtain

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma ^0}{f}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}`$ $`=`$ $`\mu \psi +\gamma ^0{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}Q^0\psi `$ (49)
$`\gamma ^i[{\displaystyle \frac{(_i\psi )}{g}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}Q^i+{\displaystyle \frac{(_jg)}{g^2}}\sigma ^{ij}\psi ]`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{(_if)}{fg}}\gamma ^0\sigma ^{0i}\psi {\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{\Omega }_{c,ab}\gamma ^c\sigma ^{ab}\psi .`$
Now using the identity, with $`\gamma _5=\gamma ^0\gamma ^1\gamma ^2\gamma ^3`$,

$`\gamma ^a\sigma ^{bc}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\eta ^{ab}\gamma ^c{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\eta ^{ac}\gamma ^b{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}ϵ^{abcd}\gamma _5\gamma _d`$ (50)
we rearrange this as

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{f}}{\displaystyle \frac{\psi }{t}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma ^0\gamma ^i}{g}}[_i+{\displaystyle \frac{g}{4}}Q^i+{\displaystyle \frac{_i(fg)}{2fg}}]\psi `$ (51)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{\Omega }_{}^{a,}{}_{ab}{}^{}\gamma ^0\gamma ^b\psi \mu \gamma ^0\psi +{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}Q^0\psi `$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\mathrm{\Omega }_{c,ab}ϵ^{abcd}\gamma ^0(\gamma _5\gamma _d)\psi .`$
Under the definitions $`i\gamma ^0:=\beta `$ and $`\gamma ^0\gamma ^i:=\alpha ^i`$, with the constants $`\mathrm{}`$ and $`c`$ put in, equation(51) takes the form

$`i\mathrm{}{\displaystyle \frac{\psi }{t}}`$ $`=`$ $`i\mathrm{}{\displaystyle \frac{fc}{g}}\alpha ^i[_i+{\displaystyle \frac{g}{4}}Q^i+{\displaystyle \frac{_i(fg)}{2fg}}]\psi `$ (52)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{}fc}{2}}\mathrm{\Omega }_{}^{a,}{}_{ab}{}^{}\gamma ^0\gamma ^b\psi +fmc^2\beta \psi +{\displaystyle \frac{i}{4}}\mathrm{}cfQ^0\psi `$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{}fc}{4}}\mathrm{\Omega }_{c,ab}ϵ^{abcd}\gamma ^0(\gamma _5\gamma _d)\psi .`$
In analogy with the Schrödinger equation

$`i\mathrm{}{\displaystyle \frac{\psi }{t}}=H\psi `$ (53)
we write down the Dirac Hamiltonian matrix as

$`H`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{f}{g}}c\stackrel{}{\pi }.\stackrel{}{\alpha }+fmc^2\beta +{\displaystyle \frac{i}{4}}\mathrm{}cQ^0{\displaystyle \frac{i}{4}}\mathrm{}fcQ_i\alpha ^i`$ (54)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{}fc}{2}}K_{}^{a,}{}_{ab}{}^{}\gamma ^0\gamma ^b+{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{}fc}{2}}q_{}^{a,}{}_{ab}{}^{}\gamma ^0\gamma ^b`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{}fc}{4}}K_{c,ab}ϵ^{abcd}\gamma ^0(\gamma _5\gamma _d)`$
where

$`\stackrel{}{\pi }:=\stackrel{}{p}{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{}}{2fg}}\stackrel{}{}(fg)=i\mathrm{}\stackrel{}{}{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{}}{2fg}}\stackrel{}{}(fg).`$ (55)
The above expression can be further simplified in terms of the irreducible components of non-metricity and torsion. We write

$`ı^aQ_{ab}=\mathrm{\Lambda }_b+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}ı_bQ`$ (56)
so that

$`q_{}^{a,}{}_{ab}{}^{}={\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}Q_b\mathrm{\Lambda }_b.`$ (57)
From (26) and defining

$`\alpha `$ $`=`$ $`F_ce^c,`$ (58)
$`\sigma `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3!}}\sigma _{abc}e^{abc},`$ (59)
$`t_b`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}t_{ac,b}e^{ac}`$ (60)
where $`e^{ab}=e^ae^b`$ and so on, we calculate

$`K_{}^{a,}{}_{ab}{}^{}`$ $`=`$ $`t_{}^{a}{}_{b,a}{}^{}+F_b,`$ (61)
$`K_{[c,ab]}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{6}}\sigma _{cab}=ϵ_{abcf}S^f.`$ (62)
Here $`S=S^aX_a`$ is a vector field.

Now when (57), (61) and (62) are substituted in (54) and the identity $`ϵ_{abcf}ϵ^{abcd}=3!\delta _f^d`$ is used, we obtain

$`H`$ $`=`$ $`({\displaystyle \frac{f}{g}}c\stackrel{}{\pi }{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}f\mathrm{}c\stackrel{}{N}).\stackrel{}{\alpha }{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}i\mathrm{}fcS^0\gamma _5`$ (63)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}\mathrm{}fcN^0+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}\mathrm{}fc\stackrel{}{S}.\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}`$
$`+fmc^2\beta `$
where

$`N_b`$ $`=`$ $`t_{}^{a}{}_{b,a}{}^{}+F_b+{\displaystyle \frac{5}{4}}Q_b\mathrm{\Lambda }_b,`$ (64)
$`\mathrm{\Sigma }^i`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}\sigma ^i& 0\\ 0& \sigma ^i\end{array}\right).`$ (67)
As far as we know, only the cases involving axial components of torsion had been studied in the literature. The $`N_a`$ terms in the Dirac Hamiltonian (63) that involve contributions from both the torsion and non-metricity are new.

### 3.2  The low energy limit

If one encounters the situation in which no high momentum states occur, and the momentum of the Dirac particle remains small compared with $`mc`$ under the influence of all interactions, we have essentially a non-relativistic problem. It therefore becomes valid to look at the problem in the context of 2-component wave functions. The technique for obtaining the Hamiltonian in the low-energy limit is known as the Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation . Far away from the central gravitating body of a mass $`M`$, it is sufficient to consider a weak limit of the Schwarzschild field (43) with

$`f1+{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{g}.\stackrel{}{r}}{c^2}},g1{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{g}.\stackrel{}{r}}{c^2}}`$ (68)
where

$`\stackrel{}{g}=GM{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{r}}{r^3}}.`$ (69)
Then the Hamiltonian (63) may be written down as

$`H=mc^2\beta +\vartheta +\epsilon `$ (70)
where

$`\vartheta =({\displaystyle \frac{f}{g}}c\stackrel{}{\pi }{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}\mathrm{}fc\stackrel{}{N}).\stackrel{}{\alpha }{\displaystyle \frac{3i}{2}}\mathrm{}fcS^0\gamma _5`$ (71)
is the odd operator and

$`\epsilon ={\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}\mathrm{}fcN^0+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}\mathrm{}fc\stackrel{}{S}.\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}+\stackrel{}{g}.\stackrel{}{r}m\beta `$ (72)
is the even operator.

For our case here, distinct from , in which the odd terms are removed from the Hamiltonian order by order in $`1/m`$ and the even operator does not have the mass term, we have the even part $`\epsilon `$ necessarily containing a term proportional to the mass $`m`$. As a result, the removed terms are the same order in $`1/m`$ as the kept terms. This makes the issue of convergence of the approximation scheme problematic. It may be recalled that there is another approach to the Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation (see  and references therein). However, it seems that this approach is not applicable to our case because of the difficulty of constructing an anticommuting involution operator (equations(6),(9) in  and equation(17) in ). Thus in spite of the convergence ambiguity we apply the usual approximation scheme here. Performing the Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation, we obtain the following Hamiltonian to order $`1/m`$,

$`H=\beta (mc^2+{\displaystyle \frac{\vartheta ^2}{2mc^2}})+\epsilon +\mathrm{}`$ (73)
which gives

$`H`$ $`=`$ $`\beta \{mc^2+m\beta \stackrel{}{g}.\stackrel{}{r}+{\displaystyle \frac{f^2}{2mg^2}}(\stackrel{}{\pi })^2`$ (74)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{}f}{2mg}}\stackrel{}{}({\displaystyle \frac{f}{g}}).\stackrel{}{\pi }+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}f}{2mg}}[\stackrel{}{}({\displaystyle \frac{f}{g}})\times \stackrel{}{\pi }].\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{ifc\mathrm{}}{2}}N^0{\displaystyle \frac{f^2\mathrm{}^2}{4mg}}\stackrel{}{}.\stackrel{}{N}{\displaystyle \frac{if^2\mathrm{}^2}{4mg}}(\stackrel{}{}\times \stackrel{}{N}).\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{}^2f}{4mg}}(\stackrel{}{}f\times \stackrel{}{N}).\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{if^2\mathrm{}}{2mg}}\stackrel{}{N}.\stackrel{}{\pi }+{\displaystyle \frac{3if^2\mathrm{}^2}{4m}}S^0\stackrel{}{N}.\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}^2f}{4mg}}\stackrel{}{N}.\stackrel{}{}f{\displaystyle \frac{f^2\mathrm{}^2}{8m}}(\stackrel{}{N})^2`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{3fc\mathrm{}}{2}}\stackrel{}{S}.\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}{\displaystyle \frac{3f^2\mathrm{}}{2mg}}S^0\stackrel{}{\pi }.\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{3i\mathrm{}^2f}{4mg}}\stackrel{}{}(fS^0).\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}+{\displaystyle \frac{9f^2\mathrm{}^2}{8m}}(S^0)^2\}+\mathrm{}.`$
This Hamiltonian is free of odd operators to order $`1/m`$ and consequently to this order its eigenfunctions are 2-component wave functions corresponding to positive and negative energies. For positive energies we have the following Pauli Hamiltonian

$`H=H_0+H_1+H_2`$ (75)
where

$`H_0`$ $`=`$ $`mc^2+m\beta \stackrel{}{g}.\stackrel{}{r}+{\displaystyle \frac{f^2}{2mg^2}}(\stackrel{}{\pi })^2`$ (76)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{}f}{2mg}}\stackrel{}{}({\displaystyle \frac{f}{g}}).\stackrel{}{\pi }+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}f}{2mg}}[\stackrel{}{}({\displaystyle \frac{f}{g}})\times \stackrel{}{\pi }].\stackrel{}{\sigma }+\mathrm{}`$
is the (pseudo-)Riemannian part of the Hamiltonian in the low-energy limit,

$`H_1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{3fc\mathrm{}}{2}}\stackrel{}{S}.\stackrel{}{\sigma }{\displaystyle \frac{3f^2\mathrm{}}{2mg}}S^0\stackrel{}{\pi }.\stackrel{}{\sigma }`$ (77)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{3i\mathrm{}^2f}{4mg}}\stackrel{}{}(fS^0).\stackrel{}{\sigma }+{\displaystyle \frac{9f^2\mathrm{}^2}{8m}}(S^0)^2+\mathrm{}`$
contains the axial part of torsion in $`H`$, and

$`H_2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{ifc\mathrm{}}{2}}N^0{\displaystyle \frac{if^2\mathrm{}}{2mg}}\stackrel{}{N}.\stackrel{}{\pi }+{\displaystyle \frac{3if^2\mathrm{}^2}{4m}}S^0\stackrel{}{N}.\stackrel{}{\sigma }{\displaystyle \frac{f^2\mathrm{}^2}{4mg}}\stackrel{}{}.\stackrel{}{N}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}^2f}{4mg}}\stackrel{}{N}.\stackrel{}{}f`$ (78)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{if^2\mathrm{}^2}{4mg}}(\stackrel{}{}\times \stackrel{}{N}).\stackrel{}{\sigma }{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{}^2f}{4mg}}(\stackrel{}{}f\times \stackrel{}{N}).\stackrel{}{\sigma }{\displaystyle \frac{f^2\mathrm{}^2}{8m}}(\stackrel{}{N})^2+\mathrm{}`$
contains the other components of torsion and certain components of non-metricity and constitutes the original content of this work. Similar calculations have been done in  for effects on energy levels of atoms coming from the coupling just the axial part of torsion to the Dirac equation and in  for the inertial (acceleration and rotation) and torsional effects in the low energy limit in the context of Einstein-Cartan-Dirac theory in which the torsion tensor is purely axial and in  for the test of equivalence principle without torsion.

## 4 Discussion

We have studied the motion of a massive, spinning particle in a background spacetime geometry with torsion and non-metricity. To this end we have written the Dirac equation in such non-Riemannian spacetimes including only certain components of non-metricity. On the other hand all irreducible components of torsion were included for the purpose of comparing our results with those already existing in the literature. After a Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation the Dirac Hamiltonian is the sum of three terms where $`H_0`$ coincides with the original Foldy-Wouthuysen expression in the limit $`f=g=1`$ and is independent of both torsion and non-metricity. $`H_1`$ depends only on the axial components of the torsion tensor while the last term $`H_2`$ is proportional to $`N_a`$’s that involve both torsion and non-metricity components. All the contributions to $`H_2`$ turn out to be of the order of $`\mathrm{}`$ or of higher orders. Consequently their effect would be too small to be macroscopically significant. However, at the microscopic scales the coupling of a Dirac particle to spacetime non-metricity might have some interesting implications.

Acknowledgement

This work has been supported in part by TÜBİTAK (The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey). We thank Professor R. W. Tucker and Dr. P. Nurowski for discussions.