Rigid particle revisited: Extrinsic curvature yields the Dirac equation

Abstract

We reexamine the model of relativistic particle with higher-derivative linear term on the first extrinsic curvature (rigidity). The passage from classical to quantum theory requires a number of rather unexpected steps which we report here. We found that, contrary to common opinion, quantization of the model in terms of so ( 3.2 ) -algebra yields massive Dirac equation. • New way of canonical quantization of relativistic rigid particle is proposed. • Quantization made in terms of so ( 3.2 ) angular momentum algebra. • Quantization yields massive Dirac equation.