# Fractional spin and the Pauli term

## Abstract

It has recently been claimed that the inclusion of a Pauli term in (2+1) dimensions gives rise to a new type of anomalous spin term. The form of that term is shown to contradict the structure relations for the inhomogeneous Lorentz group.

In 1984  it was shown that it is possible to formulate a pure Chern-Simons gauge theory. That theory was found to have the peculiar feature that the commutator of the angular momentum operator $`L`$ with the fundamental charge field has an anomalous term (i.e., a fractional spin) proportional to to the product of that field with the charge operator $`Q`$. More recently it has been claimed  that if a Pauli-type coupling is included, an additional anomalous spin term is induced. Specifically, it is asserted that the commutator of $`L`$ with the scalar charge field $`\varphi `$ has the form

$$[L,\varphi (y)]=i(𝐲\times )\varphi (y)\frac{e^2}{2\pi \kappa }Q\varphi (y)+i\frac{g}{2}𝐲𝐄\varphi (y)$$

where $`e`$, $`g`$, and $`\kappa `$ are constants. It is shown here that such a term is inconsistent with the underlying Poincaré algebra in (2+1) dimensions.

The proof of this result follows immediately upon inserting the above equation between the operators $`e^{i𝐏𝐚}`$ and $`e^{i𝐏𝐚}`$ where $`𝐚`$ is an arbitrary two-vector. Using the result

$$A(𝐱+𝐚)=e^{i𝐏𝐚}A(𝐱)e^{i𝐏𝐚}$$

for an arbitrary operator $`A`$ together with the structure relation

$$[L,P^i]=iϵ^{ij}P_j,$$

this is seen to yield

$$[L,\varphi (y)]=i(𝐲\times )\varphi (y)\frac{e^2}{2\pi \kappa }Q\varphi (y)+i\frac{g}{2}(𝐲𝐚)𝐄\varphi (y)$$

upon letting $`𝐲𝐲𝐚`$. This leads to the immediate result that the relation claimed in ref. 2 cannot be valid for nonzero $`g`$.

###### Acknowledgements.

This work is supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy Grant No.DE-FG02-91ER40685.