Derivation of Semiclassical Kinetic Theory in the Presence of Non-Abelian Berry Curvature (1703.08673v1)

Abstract: In quantum mechanics it is often required to describe in a semiclassical approximation the motion of particles moving within a given energy band. Such a representation leads to the appearance of an analogues of fictitious forces in the semiclassical equations of motion associated with the Berry curvature. The purpose of this paper is to derive systematically the kinetic Boltzmann equations displaying these effects in the case that the band is degenerate, and as such the Berry curvature is non-Abelian. We use the formalism of phase-space quantum mechanics to derive the results.