On paravectors and their associated algebras (Q2416608)

Given a quadratic space $(V,\varphi)$ of dimension $n$ over a field $F$, the associated Clifford algebra $C\ell(V,\varphi)$ is defined to be \[ F\langle x_1,\dots,x_n : (a_1 x_1+\dots+a_n x_n)^2=\varphi(a_1,\dots,a_n)\, \forall a_1,\dots,a_n \in F \rangle. \] When $\operatorname{char}(F) \neq 2$, the above quadratic form can be diagonalized using the Gram-Schmidt algorithm. In particular, when $F=\mathbb{R}$, the quadratic form is isometric to a diagonal form with coefficients $1$ and $-1$. One says the signature of $\varphi$ is $(m,k)$ if there are $m$ coefficients which are $1$ and $k$ coefficients which are $-1$. \par The Clifford algebra above is equipped with a natural involution $\sigma$ which maps every generator $x_i$ to $-x_i$ (and every scalar to itself). The subspace $V'=F\oplus Fx_1 \oplus \dots \oplus Fx_n$ of $C\ell(V,\varphi)$ is a quadratic space with respect to the quadratic form $\varphi'$ mapping each $v\in V'$ to $v\cdot \sigma(v)$. One can then consider the Clifford algebra of $(V',\varphi')$. In particular, if $F=\mathbb{R}$ and the signature of $\varphi$ is $(n,0)$ then the signature of $\varphi'$ is $(1,n)$. This basic observation is the main point of this paper.