Complexifying the spacetime algebra by means of an extra timelike dimension: pin, spin and algebraic spinors (Q2661142)

The real Clifford algebra \(C\ell_{p,q}(\mathbb{R})\) is generated over \(\mathbb{R}\) by \(x_1,\dots,x_p\), and \(y_1,\dots,y_q\), such that \(x_i^2=1\) and \(y^2_j=-1\) for all \(i\) and \(j\), and they anti-commute in pairs. By extending scalars to \(\mathbb{C}\), one obtains the complex Clifford algebra \(C\ell_{p,q}(\mathbb{C})\), whose structure in fact only depends on \(n=p+q\), and therefore in the literature it is more commonly referred to as \(C\ell_n(\mathbb{C})\). The theory of these algebras is well-studied (almost classical by now). The paper contains a long introduction on these algebras and their different properties, and in Section 5 makes use of the known isomorphism between \(C\ell_{2,3}(\mathbb{R})\) and \(C\ell_4(\mathbb{C})\) to describe an embedding of \(\operatorname{Pin}({1,3})\) into \(\operatorname{SPin}({2,3})\). Certain terms from physics and their connections to those algebras are also described, and this can be valuable to some mathematicians.