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There are many references about the subject. Here are three of them:
ds2 = dx dx . (1)
= T . (2)
We separate them to two classes - rotations and boosts. Note that in both
cases the determinant is det() = 1. This is related to the fact that this
continuous transformations are connected to the identity, i.e. (0, 0) = 1.
1
parity (P )
0 1 0 1
1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
B C B C
B 0 1 0 0C B0 1 0 0C
T =B
B
C , P =B C. (3)
@ 0 0 1 0CA
B0
@ 0 1 0C A
0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
All together we get the complete Lorentz group which has four discon-
nected pieces
P
L"+ ! L" = P L"+
proper-orthochronous improper orthochronous
T
l l T
1.3 Poincare
So far we consider just linear transformations of dx . There are additional
four transformations which leaves ds2 invariant. Those are translations of
space time x ! x + a , with some constant four vector a . Clearly dx0 =
dx . Including this transformations as well is known as the Poincare group.
2
2 Generatros and algebra
We would like to find the generators and the algebra of the Lorentz and
Poincare groups. We will start from the generators of translations which will
give us an example of representations in quantum mechanics.
2.1 Poincare
For simplicity we will consider a one-dimensional problem. Consider the
group of spatial translation in 1D x ! x + a. We would like to find the
action of this group on the Hilbert space. To this end consider a basis of
eigenvectors of the position operator X. The action of the translation group
on this space is just
1
T (a)T (b) = T (a + b) , T (0) = 1 , T (a) = T ( a) . (5)
3
What can we learn about this p? For this end let us examine the wave
function (x) = hx| i.
Z 1 Z 1
T (a) | i = T (a) |xi (x)dx = |x + ai (x)d(x + a)
1 1
Z 1
= |xi (x a)dx ) D T (a) (x) = (x a) . (8)
1
Now we can find the representation of the algebra acting on the space of
wave functions
D T (a) (x) = ei(P )a (x) . (9)
This is indeed the momentum operator that we are familiar with from quan-
tum mechanics. Following similar steps we can show that
|x + a i = eia p |x i . (11)
To make all this statements more precise we will have to use Noether theorem.
We will get to that at some later time of the course.
4
2.2 Lorentz
To get the generators of the Lorentz group we dierentiate with respect to
the continuous parameters of the group elements. Recall that boosts and
rotations takes the form of
0 1 0 1
ch sh ..
.
B C B C
B
@sh ch C , R B C
A @ c s A . (12)
...
s c
Then we find six independent generators, three Ki for boosts and three Ji
for rotations
0 1 0 1 0 1
0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
1
B C B C B C
B1 0 0 0 C B 0C B0 0C
K1 = i B C , K2 = i B0 0 0 C , K3 = iB
0 0 C ,
B0 0 0 0 C B1 0 0 0C B0 0 0C
0
@ A @ A @ A
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
0
0 1 0 1 0 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B C B C B C
B0 0 0 0 C B 1C B0 0 1 0C
J1 = i B C , J2 = i B0 0 0 C , J3 = iB C .
B0 0 0 1 C B0 0 0 0C B0 1 0 0C
@ A @ A @ A
0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
(J ) = i( ) . (15)
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The commutation relations are
[J , J ] = i ( J J J + J ) . (16)
i J
= e2!
, (17)
3 Irreducible representations
We are now at a stage to study the irreducible representations of the Lorentz
group. Nevertheless there is a crucial dierence between the Lorentz group
and the groups that we study so far - the Lorentz group is not compact.
As a result the irreducible representations can be classified in one of two
possibilities
This is a deep statement and has far reaching consequences in the study of
relativistic quantum mechanics. In quantum field theories the field opera-
tors transform under certain finite dimensional representations, while for the
consistency of quantum mechanics, the states must transform under certain
unitary representation.
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for so(1, 3)C,
1 1
Mi = (Ji + iKi ) , Ni = (Ji iKi ) , i = 1, 2, 3 . (18)
2 2
That means that the algebra is isomorphic to that of the group SU (2)
SU (2). Each irrep of Lorentz can therefore be denoted as (jM , jN ), where
jM,N are the eigenvalues of the two quadratic Casimir operators M 2 , N 2 .
Here are some examples for the most common representations:
( 12 , 12 ): Fundamental (4-vector)
To see how does it work lets take ( 12 , 12 ) as an example. First note that if we
define (122 , i ), there is a one-to-one mapping
1
x ! X = x
, x = T r[
X] . (20)
2
i i iN i i i
X ! eii M Xe = eii Xe i i
. (21)
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must impose Re[] = Re[ ], Im[] = Im[ ], so
i ii i
X ! eii Xe AXA (22)
1
W = J P (23)
2
m ijk
W 0 = 0, Wi = Jjk = M J i , (24)
2
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4.1 Time-like
In order to build all states of this representation we choose a representative
vector pt.l. (m, 0, 0, 0). This vector is invariant under spatial rotations,
i.e. SO(3). This is also the maximal subgroup of L"+ which leaves pt.l. invari-
ant and is called the little group.
The basis vectors with eigenvalues pt.l. of the operator P are denoted by
|m, s; 0, i , s.t.
To proceed one have to notice that any L"+ transformation can be uniquely
decomposed into a rotation s.t. the momentum is to the direction of the z-
axis, then to breform a boost to the z-direction, and then rotating back
where the angles are Euler angles and is a boost parameter2 . Acting with
this transformation on our state we see that the first rotation do just nothing
because of the little group.
The action of the boost on our initial state changes the momentum,
Note that now it is clear that the representation is infinite dimensional. Fi-
nally we can preform the second rotation to get
where we defined
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4.1.1 Conclusion and summary
1
R(, p) H (p)H(p) . (30)
R(, p) pt.l. = H 1
(p) H(p) pt.l. = H 1
(p) p
=H 1
(p0 ) p0 = pt.l. , (31)
namely leaves pt.l. invariant. Now we can check what is the action of general
Lorentz transformation on a general state
1
|m, s; p, i = H(p) |m, s; 0, i = H(p) H (p)H(p) |m, s; 0, i
~ 0
= H(p)R(, p) |m, s; 0, i = H(p0 ) |m, s; 0, 0 i Ds [R(, p)]
0
= |m, s; p0 , 0 i Ds [R(, p)] . (32)
0
In ~ we introduced the representation Ds [R(, p)] of SO(3) acting on a
spin state s. Under translation we have
T (a) |m, s; p, i = eia P |m, s; p, i = ... = |m, s; p, i eia p . (33)
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