Mechanical form factors and densities of non-relativistic fermions

Abstract

The hadron physics community has been actively debating the interpretation of so-called mechanical properties of hadrons. Non-relativistic quantum-mechanical systems like the hydrogen atom have been appealed to in these debates as analogies. Since such appeals are likely to continue, it is important to have Galilei-covariant expressions for matrix elements of the energy-momentum tensor. In this work, I obtain Galilei-covariant breakdowns of such matrix elements into mechanical form factors, with a special focus on spin-half states. I additionally study the spatial densities associated with these form factors, using the pilot wave interpretation to guide their breakdown into contributions from internal structure and from quantum-mechanical effects such as wave packet dispersion. For completeness, I also obtain non-relativistic Breit frame densities.

Comments: 26 pages, version accepted for publication