Real spinors and real Dirac equation

DOI10.1007/S00006-022-01236-WMaRDI QIDQ2170969zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Václav Zatloukal

Publication date 8 September 2022

Published in Advances in Applied Clifford Algebras (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.04590

zbMATH Keywords

Dirac equationgauge fieldsspinors

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Clifford algebras, spinors (15A66) Applications of Clifford algebras to physics, etc. (15A67) Yang-Mills and other gauge theories in mechanics of particles and systems (70S15) Spinor and twistor methods applied to problems in quantum theory (81R25) Yang-Mills and other gauge theories in quantum field theory (81T13)

Abstract: We reexamine the minimal coupling procedure in the Hestenes' geometric algebra formulation of the Dirac equation, where spinors are identified with the even elements of the real Clifford algebra of spacetime. This point of view, as we argue, leads naturally to a non-Abelian generalisation of the electromagnetic gauge potential.

Review text

The author deals with what is known more generally as the geometric algebra approach. With its roots in the classical works of Hermann Grassmann, William Kington Clifford and Marcel Riesz, the algebra was developed by David Orlin Hestenes and later investigated by Cris Doran, Anthony Lasenby and Stephen Gull, thus offering an approach which avoids the usage of complex numbers. The geometric product combines the inner and the outer products, is real but noncommutative by construction. The main tool in the application to the Dirac equation is the same graduation which is found in the usual matrix-valued Dirac matrices. Still, in contrast to the former, this approach is representation independent. The approach of the author is more explicit than the ones by his predecessors, since he gives explicit expressions for the components of the spinors before or after the geometric analogues of the Dirac gamma matrices are applied. This allows him to prove the equivalence of the representation independent form with the canonical matrix representation by \textit{P. A. M. Dirac} [Proc. R. Soc. Lond., Ser. A 117, 610--624 (1928; JFM 54.0973.01)]. The central tool for this translation is the trace which reduces a geometric product to an element of grade zero. Via this pathway the author reaches up to scalars and vector currents and finally to the same Dirac equation found by \textit{D. Hestenes} [Space-time algebra. Foreword by Anthony Lasenby. 2nd ed. Cham: Birkhäuser/Springer (2015; Zbl 1316.83005)]. Finally, as the geometric algebra is by default closely related to gravitation, the formalism is generalised to curved spacetimes in the last part of the paper. The article is pleasant to read, as it provides the possibility to check the results by direct calculation. It can be recommended also to readers who are not expert in this field.

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Cited in

(13)

• Real spinor fields and the electroweak interaction
• Complex geometry and Dirac equation
• Dirac geometry of real spacetime
• One real function instead of the Dirac spinor function
• Toward a quantum mechanics without complex numbers
• Algebraic inversion of the Dirac equation for the vector potential in the non-abelian case
• The Dirac equation: an approach through geometric algebra
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 124601 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1551890 (Why is no real title available?)
• Finsler \(N\)-spinors with real components
• Analysis as a source of geometry: a non-geometric representation of the Dirac equation
• Survey of new applications of geometric algebra
• An introduction to calculus in the q-real spinor variables

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