The ideal relativistic spinning gas: Polarization and spectra

We study the physics of the ideal relativistic rotating gas at thermodynamical equilibrium and provide analytical expressions of the momentum spectra and polarization vector for the case of massive particles with spin 1/2 and 1. We show that the finite angular momentum J entails an anisotropy in momentum spectra, with particles emitted orthogonally to J having, on average, a larger momentum than along its direction. Unlike in the non-relativistic case, the proper polarization vector turns out not to be aligned with the total angular momentum with a non-trivial momentum dependence. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.