Semiclassical dynamics of a spin-1/2 in an arbitrary magnetic field

The spin coherent state path integral describing the dynamics of a spin-1/2 system in a magnetic field of arbitrary time dependence is considered. Defining the path integral as the limit of a Wiener regularized expression, the semiclassical approximation leads to a continuous minimal action path with jumps at the endpoints. The resulting semiclassical propagator is shown to coincide with the exact quantum mechanical propagator. A nonlinear transformation of the angle variables allows for a determination of the semiclassical path and the jumps without solving a boundary-value problem. The semiclassical spin dynamics is thus readily amenable to numerical methods. (author)