Monday, September 14, 2015

quantum mechanics - What is the group transformation property of photons under rotation?


Both the photon and the W boson are spin-1 particles. Under rotation W boson must transform under the 3-dimensional representation of SU(2). However, the photon has two degrees of freedom (or helicity states), unlike W boson. How does it transform under the rotation of coordinates? What is the underlying group and group representation which describes the transformation of photons under rotation.




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