How should spin-weighted spherical functions be defined?

DOI10.1063/1.4962723MaRDI QIDQ2825553zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Michael Boyle

Publication date 13 October 2016

Published in Journal of Mathematical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1604.08140

zbMATH Keywords

quaternionrotation groupstensor-valued functionsangular-momentum operatorspin-raising operatorspin-weighted spherical functions

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Quaternion and other division algebras: arithmetic, zeta functions (11R52) Semisimple Lie groups and their representations (22E46) Spherical harmonics (33C55) Gravitational waves (83C35) Spinor and twistor methods in general relativity and gravitational theory; Newman-Penrose formalism (83C60) Compactifications; symmetric and spherical varieties (14M27) Harmonic analysis and spherical functions (43A90)

Abstract: Spin-weighted spherical functions provide a useful tool for analyzing tensor-valued functions on the sphere. A tensor field can be decomposed into complex-valued functions by taking contractions with tangent vectors on the sphere and the normal to the sphere. These component functions are usually presented as functions on the sphere itself, but this requires an implicit choice of distinguished tangent vectors with which to contract. Thus, we may more accurately say that spin-weighted spherical functions are functions of both a point on the sphere and a choice of frame in the tangent space at that point. The distinction becomes extremely important when transforming the coordinates in which these functions are expressed, because the implicit choice of frame will also transform. Here, it is proposed that spin-weighted spherical functions should be treated as functions on the spin group. This approach more cleanly reflects the geometry involved, and allows for a more elegant description of the behavior of spin-weighted functions. In this form, the spin-weighted spherical harmonics have simple expressions as elements of the Wigner $mathfrakD$ representations, and transformations under rotation are simple. Two variants of the angular-momentum operator are defined directly in terms of the spin group; one is the standard angular-momentum operator $mathbfL$, while the other is shown to be related to the spin-raising operator $eth$. Computer code is also included, providing an explicit implementation of the spin-weighted spherical harmonics in this form.

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Cited in

(8)

• Exact massless spinor quasibound states of Schwarzschild black hole
• Erratum: “How should spin-weighted spherical functions be defined?” [J. Math. Phys. 57, 092504 (2016)]
• Coadjoint representation of the BMS group on celestial Riemann surfaces
• Spin-s Spherical Harmonics and ð
• Dirac and Klein–Gordon–Fock equations in Grumiller’s spacetime
• Spin-weighted cylindrical harmonics and the Euclidean group of the plane
• Gravitational partial-wave absorption from scattering amplitudes
• Computational harmonic analysis for tensor fields on the two-sphere

Describes a project that uses

Uses Software

• spinsfast

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