Covariant spin kinetic theory I: collisionless limit * * X.-G. H. was supported by NSFC (11535012, 11675041), and K. M. was supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M621345)

Abstract

We develop a covariant kinetic theory for massive fermions in a curved spacetime and an external electromagnetic field based on quantum field theory. We derive four coupled semi-classical kinetic equations accurate to , which describe the transports of particle number and spin degrees of freedom. The relationship with chiral kinetic theory is discussed. As an application, we study spin polarization in the presence of finite Riemann curvature and an electromagnetic field in both local and global equilibrium states.