Fields of Lorentz transformations on space-time (Q5948954)

A linear map \(F\) skew-symmetric with respect to the inner product \((\cdot,\cdot)\) of Minkowski space obviously satisfies \((Fu,v)=-(u,Fv),\text{ so that }(e^Fu,e^Fv)=(e^{-F}e^Fu,v)=(u,v)\) and thus \(e^F\) is an inner product preserving linear map on a Minkowski space, or, in other words, a Lorentz transformation. If all this is translated to a space-time manifold, where the tangent space at each point is a Minkowski space, the collection of the Lorentz transformations thus generated becomes a tensor field. The author examines this setup and finds that there is a homotopic obstruction and a differential obstruction to the existence of such a field of Lorentz transformations. His study of the singularity leads him to a geometric structure which he considers the right setting for the description of classical electrodynamics. In the sequel he finds an interesting and useful basis for the \(4\times 4\) complex matrices.