Massive spinning particles and the geometry of null curves

We study the simplest geometrical particle model associated with null paths in four-dimensional Minkowski space-time. The action is given by the pseudo-arclength of the particle worldline. We show that the reduced classical phase space of this system coincides with that of a massive spinning particle of spin s = alpha(2)/M, where M is the particle mass, and alpha is the coupling constant in front of the action. Consistency of the associated quantum theory requires the spin s to be an integer or half integer number, thus implying a quantization condition on the physical mass M of the particle. Then, standard quantization techniques show that the corresponding Hilbert spaces are solution spaces of the standard relativistic massive wave equations. Therefore this geometrical particle model provides us with an unified description of Dirac fermions (s = 1/2) and massive higher spin fields. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.