Chirality (physics)

A chiral phenomenon is one that is not identical to its (see the article on mathematical chirality). The spin of a particle may be used to define a handedness, or helicity, for that particle, which, in the case of a massless particle, is the same as chirality. A symmetry transformation between the two is called parity transformation. Invariance under parity transformation by a Dirac fermion is called chiral symmetry. Helicity (particle physics) The helicity of a particle is positive (“right-handed”) if the direction of its spin is the same as the direction of its motion. It is negative (“left-handed”) if the directions of spin and motion are opposite. So a standard clock, with its spin vector defined by the rotation of its hands, has left-handed helicity if tossed with its face directed forwards. Mathematically, helicity is the sign of the projection of the spin vector onto the momentum vector: “left” is negative, “right” is positive. The chirality of a particle is more abstract: It is determined by whether the particle transforms in a right- or left-handed representation of the Poincaré group. For massless particles – photons, gluons, and (hypothetical) gravitons – chirality is the same as helicity; a given massless particle appears to spin in the same direction along its axis of motion regardless of point of view of the observer. For massive particles – such as electrons, quarks, and neutrinos – chirality and helicity must be distinguished: In the case of these particles, it is possible for an observer to change to a reference frame moving faster than the spinning particle, in which case the particle will then appear to move backwards, and its helicity (which may be thought of as “apparent chirality”) will be reversed. That is, helicity is a constant of motion, but it is not Lorentz invariant. Chirality is Lorentz invariant, but is not a constant of motion: A massive left-handed spinor, when propagating, will evolve into a right handed spinor over time, and vice versa.