Tensors, spinors and multivectors in the Petrov classification (Q2460935)

The authors show that two main approaches to the algebraic classification of the Weyl tensor can be related by the use of the language of geometric Clifford algebras. The first approach is based on the Jordan matrix classification of the Riemann tensor as an endomorphism in the bivector space. The second one is based on obtaining and counting the multiplicities of the principal null directions of the Weyl tensor. Using a multivectorial representation of 2-spinors the authors obtain a new canonical tensorial expression for the Weyl tensor.