Classical spinning magnetic dipole in classical electrodynamics with classical electromagnetic zero-point radiation

Abstract

A classical spinning magnetic dipole is considered within classical electrodynamics with classical electromagnetic zero-point radiation. The stationary probability distribution for the angle of alignment between the spinning magnetic dipole and an external magnetic field is calculated when the system is located in an arbitrary spectrum of random classical radiation. It is found that for the Rayleigh-Jeans spectrum the probability distribution for alignment is just the Boltzmann distribution. However, in classical zero-point radiation the alignment probability distribution is independent of the magnetic field causing alignment. Moreover, for large classical spin angular momentum $Sgg\ensuremath{\hbar}$, the average component of the spin in the direction of alignment is given by $〈{S}_{z}〉=S\ensuremath{-}\frac{1}{2}\ensuremath{\hbar}$, where $\ensuremath{\hbar}$ is Planck's constant (divided by $2\ensuremath{\pi}$) used to set the scale of the classical zero-point radiation spectrum. The results seem suggestive of the idea of space quantization in quantum theory. The model discussed here was first considered by S. Sachidanandam (unpublished).