LAUSR

The Dirac equation on a non-torsional space-time has been studied extensively in the Newman-Penrose (NP) formalism. In particular, a comprehensive treatment is given by Chandrasekhar in his book `The Mathematical Theory of Black Holes', which we take as our primary source. Building upon this work, we aim to (working always in the NP formalism) explicitly write the contorsion spin coefficients in terms of the Dirac spinor components. We then generalise the Dirac equations by carrying them into a torsional space-time -- where it is known in this form as the Hehl-Datta equation -- as permitted by the Einstein-Cartan-Sciama-Kibble (ECSK) framework which has non-vanishing torsion. Finally, we write down the full Einstein-Cartan-Dirac (ECD) equations in the NP formalism, and provide a solution (on Minkowski background) in various specific cases. In particular, we demonstrate how torsion physically changes the solutions of the torsion-free Dirac equations.