Relativistic field theory takes place on spacetime.
The concept of spacetime makes sense for every dimension with . The observable universe has macroscopic dimension , but quantum field theory generally makes sense also in lower and in higher dimensions. For instance quantum field theory in dimension 0+1 is the “worldline” theory of particles, also known as quantum mechanics; while quantum field theory in dimension may be “KK-compactified” to an “effective” field theory in dimension which generally looks more complicated than its higher dimensional incarnation.
However, every realistic field theory, and also most of the non-realistic field theories of interest, contain spinor fields such as the Dirac field (example below) and the precise nature and behaviour of spinors does depend sensitively on spacetime dimension. In fact the theory of relativistic spinors is mathematically most natural in just the following four spacetime dimensions:
In the literature one finds these four dimensions advertized for two superficially unrelated reasons:
in precisely these dimensions “GS-superstrings” exist (see there).
However, both these explanations have a common origin in something simpler and deeper: Spacetime in these dimensions appears from the “Pauli matrices” with entries in the real normed division algebras. (In fact it goes deeper still, but this will not concern us here.)
This we explain now, and then we use this to obtain a slick handle on spinors in these dimensions, using simple linear algebra over the four real normed division algebras. At the end (in remark ) we give a dictionary that expresses these constructions in terms of the “two-component spinor notation” that is traditionally used in physics texts (remark below).
The relation between real spin representations and division algebras, is originally due to Kugo-Townsend 82, Sudbery 84 and others. We follow the streamlined discussion in Baez-Huerta 09 and Baez-Huerta 10.
A key extra structure that the spinors impose on the underlying Cartesian space of spacetime is its causal structure, which determines which points in spacetime (“events”) are in the future or the past of other points (def. below). This causal structure will turn out to tightly control the quantum field theory on spacetime in terms of the “causal additivity of the S-matrix” (prop. below) and the induced “causal locality” of the algebra of quantum observables (prop. below). To prepare the discussion of these constructions, we end this chapter with some basics on the causal structure of Minkowski spacetime.
Real division algebras
To amplify the following pattern and to fix our notation for algebra generators, recall these definitions:
The complex numbers is the commutative algebra over the real numbers which is generated from one generators subject to the relation
The quaternions is the associative algebra over the real numbers which is generated from three generators subject to the relations
for all
for a cyclic permutation of then
(graphics grabbed from Baez 02)
The octonions is the nonassociative algebra over the real numbers which is generated from seven generators subject to the relations
for all
for an edge or circle in the diagram shown (a labeled version of the Fano plane) then
and all relations obtained by cyclic permutation of the indices in these equations.
(graphics grabbed from Baez 02)
One defines the following operations on these real algebras:
(conjugation, real part, imaginary part and absolute value)
For , let
be the antihomomorphism of real algebras
given on the generators of def. , def. and def. by
This operation makes into a star algebra. For the complex numbers this is called complex conjugation, and in general we call it conjugation.
Let then
be the function
(“real part”) and
be the function
(“imaginary part”).
It follows that for all then the product of a with its conjugate is in the real center of
and we write the square root of this expression as
called the norm or absolute value function
This norm operation clearly satisfies the following properties (for all )
;
;
and hence makes a normed algebra.
Since is a division algebra, these relations immediately imply that each is a division algebra, in that
Hence the conjugation operation makes a real normed division algebra.
(sequence of inclusions of real normed division algebras)
Suitably embedding the sets of generators in def. , def. and def. into each other yields sequences of real star-algebra inclusions
For example for the first two inclusions we may send each generator to the generator of the same name, and for the last inclusion me may choose
(Hurwitz theorem: , , and are the normed real division algebras)
The four algebras of real numbers , complex numbers , quaternions and octonions from def. , def. and def. respectively, which are real normed division algebras via def. , are, up to isomorphism, the only real normed division algebras that exist.
(Cayley-Dickson construction and sedenions)
While prop. says that the sequence from remark
is maximal in the category of real normed non-associative division algebras, there is a pattern that does continue if one disregards the division algebra property. Namely each step in this sequence is given by a construction called forming the Cayley-Dickson double algebra. This continues to an unbounded sequence of real nonassociative star-algebras
where the next algebra is called the sedenions.
What actually matters for the following relation of the real normed division algebras to real spin representations is that they are also alternative algebras:
Given any non-associative algebra , then the trilinear map
given on any elements by
is called the associator (in analogy with the commutator ).
If the associator is completely antisymmetric (in that for any permutation of three elements then for the signature of the permutation) then is called an alternative algebra.
If the characteristic of the ground field is different from 2, then alternativity is readily seen to be equivalent to the conditions that for all then
We record some basic properties of associators in alternative star-algebras that we need below:
(properties of alternative star algebras)
Let be an alternative algebra (def. ) which is also a star algebra. Then (using def. ):
the associator vanishes when at least one argument is real
the associator changes sign when one of its arguments is conjugated
the associator vanishes when one of its arguments is the conjugate of another
the associator is purely imaginary
That the associator vanishes as soon as one argument is real is just the linearity of an algebra product over the ground ring.
Hence in fact
This implies the second statement by linearity. And so follows the third statement by skew-symmetry:
The fourth statement finally follows by this computation:
Here the first equation follows by inspection and using that , the second follows from the first statement above, and the third is the anti-symmetry of the associator.
It is immediate to check that:
(, , and are real alternative algebras)
The real algebras of real numbers, complex numbers, def. ,quaternions def. and octonions def. are alternative algebras (def. ).
Since the real numbers, complex numbers and quaternions are associative algebras, their associator vanishes identically. It only remains to see that the associator of the octonions is skew-symmetric. By linearity it is sufficient to check this on generators. So let be a circle or a cyclic permutation of an edge in the Fano plane. Then by definition of the octonion multiplication we have
and similarly
The analog of the Hurwitz theorem (prop. ) is now this:
(, , and are precisely the alternative real division algebras)
The only division algebras over the real numbers which are also alternative algebras (def. ) are the real numbers themselves, the complex numbers, the quaternions and the octonions from prop. .
This is due to (Zorn 30).
For the following, the key point of alternative algebras is this equivalent characterization:
(alternative algebra detected on subalgebras spanned by any two elements)
A nonassociative algebra is alternative, def. , precisely if the subalgebra? generated by any two elements is an associative algebra.
This is due to Emil Artin, see for instance (Schafer 95, p. 18).
Proposition is what allows to carry over a minimum of linear algebra also to the octonions such as to yield a representation of the Clifford algebra on . This happens in the proof of prop. below.
So we will be looking at a fragment of linear algebra over these four normed division algebras. To that end, fix the following notation and terminology:
(hermitian matrices with values in real normed division algebras)
Let be one of the four real normed division algebras from prop. , hence equivalently one of the four real alternative division algebras from prop. .
Say that an matrix with coefficients in
is a hermitian matrix if the transpose matrix equals the componentwise conjugated matrix (def. ):
Hence with the notation
we have that is a hermitian matrix precisely if
We write for the real vector space of hermitian matrices.
(trace reversal)
Let be a hermitian matrix as in def. . Its trace reversal is the result of subtracting its trace times the identity matrix:
Minkowski spacetime in dimensions 3,4,6 and 10
We now discover Minkowski spacetime of dimension 3,4,6 and 10, in terms of the real normed division algebras from prop. , equivalently the real alternative division algebras from prop. : this is prop./def. and def. below.
(Minkowski spacetime as real vector space of hermitian matrices in real normed division algebras)
Let be one of the four real normed division algebras from prop. , hence one of the four real alternative division algebras from prop. .
Then the real vector space of hermitian matrices over (def. ) equipped with the inner product whose quadratic form is the negative of the determinant operation on matrices is Minkowski spacetime:
hence
for ;
for ;
for ;
for .
Here we think of the vector space on the left as with
equipped with the canonical coordinates labeled .
As a linear map the identification is given by
This means that the quadratic form is given on an element by
By the polarization identity the quadratic form induces a bilinear form
given by
This is called the Minkowski metric.
Finally, under the above identification the operation of trace reversal from def. corresponds to time reversal in that
We need to check that under the given identification, the Minkowski norm-square is indeed given by minus the determinant on the corresponding hermitian matrices. This follows from the nature of the conjugation operation from def. :
(physical units of length)
As the term “metric” suggests, in application to physics, the Minkowski metric in prop./def. is regarded as a measure of length: for a tangent vector at a point in Minkowski spacetime, interpreted as a displacement from event to event , then
if then
is interpreted as a measure for the spatial distance between and ;
if then
is interpreted as a measure for the time distance between and .
But for this to make physical sense, an operational prescription needs to be specified that tells the experimentor how the real number is to be translated into an physical distance between actual events in the observable universe.
Such an operational prescription is called a physical unit of length. For example “centimeter” is a physical unit of length, another one is “femtometer” .
The combined information of a real number and a physical unit of length such as meter, jointly written
is a prescription for finding actual distance in the observable universe. Alternatively
is another prescription, that translates the same real number into another physical distance.
But of course they are related, since physical units form a torsor over the group of non-negative real numbers, meaning that any two are related by a unique rescaling. For example
with .
This means that once any one prescription of turning real numbers into spacetime distances is specified, then any other such prescription is obtained from this by rescaling these real numbers. For example
The point to notice here is that, via the last line, we may think of this as rescaling the metric from to .
In quantum field theory physical units of length are typically expressed in terms of a physical unit of “action”, called “Planck's constant” , via the combination of units called the Compton wavelength
parameterized, in turn, by a physical unit of mass . For the mass of the electron, the Compton wavelength is
Another physical unit of length parameterized by a mass is the Schwarzschild radius , where is the gravitational constant. Solving the equation
for yields the Planck mass
The corresponding Compton wavelength is given by the Planck length
(Minkowski spacetime as a pseudo-Riemannian Cartesian space)
Prop./def. introduces Minkowski spacetime for as a a vector space equipped with a norm . The genuine spacetime corresponding to this is this vector space regaded as a Cartesian space, i.e. with smooth functions (instead of just linear maps) to it and from it (def. ). This still carries one copy of over each point , as its tangent space (example )
and the Cartesian space equipped with the Lorentzian inner product from prop./def. on each tangent space (a “pseudo-Riemannian Cartesian space”) is Minkowski spacetime as such.
We write
for the canonical volume form on Minkowski spacetime.
We use the Einstein summation convention: Expressions with repeated indices indicate summation over the range of indices.
For example a differential 1-form on Minkowski spacetime may be expanded as
Moreover we use square brackets around indices to indicate skew-symmetrization. For example a differential 2-form on Minkowski spacetime may be expanded as
The identification of Minkowski spacetime (def. ) in the exceptional dimensions with the generalized Pauli matrices (prop./def. ) has some immediate useful implications:
(Minkowski metric in terms of trace reversal)
In terms of the trace reversal operation from def. , the determinant operation on hermitian matrices (def. ) has the following alternative expression
and the Minkowski inner product from prop. has the alternative expression
(special linear group acts by linear isometries on Minkowski spacetime )
For one of the four real normed division algebras (prop. ) the special linear group acts on Minkowski spacetime in dimension (def. ) by linear isometries given under the identification with the Pauli matrices in prop./def. by conjugation:
For this is immediate from matrix calculus, but we spell it out now. While the argument does not directly apply to the case of the octonions, one can check that it still goes through, too.
First we need to see that the action is well defined. This follows from the associativity of matrix multiplication and the fact that forming conjugate transpose matrices is an antihomomorphism: . In particular this implies that the action indeed sends hermitian matrices to hermitian matrices:
By prop./def. such an action is an isometry precisely if it preserves the determinant. This follows from the multiplicative property of determinants: and their compativility with conjugate transposition: , and finally by the assumption that is an element of the special linear group, hence that its determinant is :
In fact the special linear groups of linear isometries in prop. are the spin groups (def. below) in these dimensions.
exceptional spinors and real normed division algebras
This we explain now.
Lorentz group and spin group
For , write
for the subgroup of the general linear group on those linear maps which preserve this bilinear form on Minkowski spacetime (def ), in that
This is the Lorentz group in dimension .
The elements in the Lorentz group in the image of the special orthogonal group are rotations in space. The further elements in the special Lorentz group , which mathematically are “hyperbolic rotations” in a space-time plane, are called boosts in physics.
One distinguishes the following further subgroups of the Lorentz group :
is the subgroup of elements which have determinant +1 (as elements of the general linear group);
the proper orthochronous (or restricted) Lorentz group
is the further subgroup of elements which preserve the time orientation of vectors in that .
(connected component of Lorentz group)
As a smooth manifold, the Lorentz group (def. ) has four connected components. The connected component of the identity is the proper orthochronous Lorentz group (def. ). The other three components are
,
where, as matrices,
is the operation of point reflection at the origin in space, where
is the operation of reflection in time and hence where
is point reflection in spacetime.
The following concept of the Clifford algebra (def. ) of Minkowski spacetime encodes the structure of the inner product space in terms of algebraic operation (“geometric algebra”), such that the action of the Lorentz group becomes represented by a conjugation action (example below). In particular this means that every element of the proper orthochronous Lorentz group may be “split in half” to yield a double cover: the spin group (def. below).
For , we write
for the -graded associative algebra over which is generated from generators in odd degree (“Clifford generators”), subject to the relation
where is the inner product of Minkowski spacetime as in def. .
These relations say equivalently that
We write
for the antisymmetrized product of Clifford generators. In particular, if all the are pairwise distinct, then this is simply the plain product of generators
Finally, write
for the algebra anti-automorphism given by
(vectors inside Clifford algebra)
By construction, the vector space of linear combinations of the generators in a Clifford algebra (def. ) is canonically identified with Minkowski spacetime (def. )
via
hence via
such that the defining quadratic form on is identified with the anti-commutator in the Clifford algebra
where on the right we are, in turn, identifying with the linear span of the unit in .
The key point of the Clifford algebra (def. ) is that it realizes spacetime reflections, rotations and boosts via conjugation actions:
(Clifford conjugation)
For and the Minkowski spacetime of def. , let be any vector, regarded as an element via remark .
Then
reflection at the hyperplane ;
sends to the result of rotating it in the -plane through an angle .
This is immediate by inspection:
For the first statement, observe that conjugating the Clifford generator with yields up to a sign, depending on whether or not:
Therefore for then is the result of multiplying the -component of by .
For the second statement, observe that
This is the canonical action of the Lorentzian special orthogonal Lie algebra . Hence
is the rotation action as claimed.
Since the reflections, rotations and boosts in example are given by conjugation actions, there is a crucial ambiguity in the Clifford elements that induce them:
the conjugation action by coincides precisely with the conjugation action by ;
the conjugation action by coincides precisely with the conjugation action by .
For , the spin group is the group of even graded elements of the Clifford algebra (def. ) which are unitary with respect to the conjugation operation from def. :
The function
from the spin group (def. ) to the general linear group in -dimensions given by sending to the conjugation action
(via the identification of Minkowski spacetime as the subspace of the Clifford algebra containing the linear combinations of the generators, according to remark )
is
a group homomorphism onto the proper orthochronous Lorentz group (def. ):
exhibiting a -central extension.
That the function is a group homomorphism into the general linear group, hence that it acts by linear transformations on the generators follows by using that it clearly lands in automorphisms of the Clifford algebra.
That the function lands in the Lorentz group follows from remark :
That it moreover lands in the proper Lorentz group follows from observing (example ) that every reflection is given by the conjugation action by a linear combination of generators, which are excluded from the group (as that is defined to be in the even subalgebra).
To see that the homomorphism is surjective, use that all elements of are products of rotations in hyperplanes. If a hyperplane is spanned by the bivector , then such a rotation is given, via example by the conjugation action by
for some , hence is in the image.
That the kernel is is clear from the fact that the only even Clifford elements which commute with all vectors are the multiples of the identity. For these and hence the condition is equivalent to . It is clear that these two elements are in the center of . This kernel reflects the ambiguity from remark .
Spinors in dimensions 3, 4, 6 and 10
We now discuss how real spin representations (def. ) in spacetime dimensions 3,4, 6 and 10 are naturally induced from linear algebra over the four real alternative division algebras (prop. ).
(Clifford algebra via normed division algebra)
Let be one of the four real normed division algebras from prop. , hence one of the four real alternative division algebras from prop. .
Define a real linear map
from (the real vector space underlying) Minkowski spacetime to real linear maps on
Here on the right we are using the isomorphism from prop. for identifying a spacetime vector with a -matrix, and we are using the trace reversal from def. .
(Clifford multiplication via octonion-valued matrices)
Each operation of in def. is clearly a linear map, even for being the non-associative octonions. The only point to beware of is that for the octonions, then the composition of two such linear maps is not in general given by the usual matrix product.
(real spin representations via normed division algebras)
The map in def. gives a representation of the Clifford algebra (this def.), i.e of
for ;
for ;
for ;
for .
Hence this Clifford representation induces representations of the spin group on the real vector spaces
and hence on
We need to check that the Clifford relation
is satisfied (where we used (4) and (1)). Now by definition, for any then
where on the right we have in each component ordinary matrix product expressions.
Now observe that both expressions on the right are sums of triple products that involve either one real factor or two factors that are conjugate to each other:
Since the associators of triple products that involve a real factor and those involving both an element and its conjugate vanish by prop. (hence ultimately by Artin’s theorem, prop. ). In conclusion all associators involved vanish, so that we may rebracket to obtain
Let be one of the four real normed division algebras and the corresponding spin representation from prop. .
Then there are bilinear maps from two spinors (according to prop. ) to the real numbers
as well as to
given, respectively, by forming the real part (def. ) of the canonical -inner product
and by forming the product of a column vector with a row vector to produce a matrix, possibly up to trace reversal (def. ) under the identification from prop. :
and
For the -component of this map is
These pairings have the following properties
both are -equivalent;
the pairing is symmetric:
(Baez-Huerta 09, prop. 8, prop. 9).
(two-component spinor notation)
In the physics/QFT literature the expressions for spin representations given by prop. are traditionally written in two-component spinor notation as follows:
An element of is denoted and called a left handed spinor;
an element of is denoted and called a right handed spinor;
an element of is denoted
and called a Dirac spinor;
and the Clifford action of prop. corresponds to the generalized “Pauli matrices”:
a hermitian matrix as in prop regarded as a linear map via def. is denoted
the negative of the trace-reversal (def. ) of such a hermitian matrix, regarded as a linear map , is denoted
the bilinear spinor-to-vector pairing from prop. is written as the matrix multiplication
where the Dirac conjugate on the left is given on by
hence, with (6):
Finally, it is common to abbreviate contractions with the Clifford algebra generators by a slash, as in
or
This is called the Feynman slash notation.
(e.g. Dermisek I-8, Dermisek I-9)
Below we spell out the example of the Lagrangian field theory of the Dirac field in detail (example ). For discussion of massive chiral spinor fields one also needs the following, here we just mention this for completeness:
(chiral spinor mass pairing)
In dimension 2+1 and 3+1, there exists a non-trivial skew-symmetric pairing
which may be normalized such that in the two-component spinor basis of remark we have
Take the non-vanishing components of to be
and
With this equation (10) is checked explicitly. It is clear that thus defined is skew symmetric as long as the component algebra is commutative, which is the case for being or .
Causal structure
We need to consider the following concepts and constructions related to the causal structure of Minkowski spacetime (def. ).
(spacelike, timelike, lightlike directions; past and future)
Given two points in Minkowski spacetime (def. ), write
for their difference, using the vector space structure underlying Minkowski spacetime.
Recall the Minkowski inner product on , given by prop./def. . Then via remark we say that the difference vector is
For a point in spacetime (an event), we write
for the subsets of events that are in the timelike future or in the timelike past of , respectively (def. ) called the open future cone and open past cone, respectively, and
for the subsets of events that are in the timelike or lightlike future or past, respectivel, called the closed future cone and closed past cone, respectively.
The union
of the closed future cone and past cone is called the full causal cone of the event . Its boundary is the light cone.
More generally for a subset of events we write
for the union of the future/past closed cones of all events in the subset.
(compactly sourced causal support)
Consider a vector bundle (def. ) over Minkowski spacetime (def. ).
Write for the spaces of smooth sections (def. ), and write
for the subsets on those smooth sections whose support is
() inside a compact subset,
() inside the closed future cone/closed past cone, respectively, of a compact subset,
() inside the closed causal cone of a compact subset, which equivalently means that the intersection with every (spacelike) Cauchy surface is compact (Sanders 13, theorem 2.2),
() inside the past of a Cauchy surface (Sanders 13, def. 3.2),
() inside the future of a Cauchy surface (Sanders 13, def. 3.2),
() inside the future of one Cauchy surface and the past of another (Sanders 13, def. 3.2).
(Bär 14, section 1, Khavkine 14, def. 2.1)
Consider the relation on the set of subsets of spacetime which says a subset is not prior to a subset , denoted , if does not intersect the causal past of (def. ), or equivalently that does not intersect the causal future of :
(Beware that this is just a relation, not an ordering, since it is not relation.)
If and we say that the two subsets are spacelike separated and write
(causal complement and causal closure of subset of spacetime)
For a subset of spacetime, its causal complement is the complement of the causal cone:
The causal complement of the causal complement is called the causal closure. If
then the subset is called a causally closed subset.
Given a spacetime , we write
for the partially ordered set of causally closed subsets, partially ordered by inclusion .
For a causally closed subset of spacetime (def. ) say that an adiabatic switching function or infrared cutoff function for is a smooth function of compact support (a bump function) whose restriction to some neighbourhood of is the constant function with value :
Often we consider the vector space space spanned by a formal variable (the coupling constant) under multiplication with smooth functions, and consider as adiabatic switching functions the corresponding images in this space,
which are thus bump functions constant over a neighbourhood of not on 1 but on the formal parameter :
In this sense we may think of the adiabatic switching as being the spacetime-depependent coupling “constant”.
The following lemma will be key in the derivation (proof of prop. below) of the causal locality of algebra of quantum observables in perturbative quantum field theory:
(causal partition)
Let be a causally closed subset (def. ) and let be a compactly supported smooth function which vanishes on a neighbourhood , i.e. .
Then there exists a causal partition of in that there exist compactly supported smooth functions such that
they sum up to :
their support satisfies the following causal ordering (def. )
By assumption has a Cauchy surface. This may be extended to a Cauchy surface of , such that this is one leaf of a foliation of by Cauchy surfaces, given by a diffeomorphism with the original at zero. There exists then such that the restriction of to the interval is in the causal complement of the given region (def. ):
Let then be any smooth function with
.
Then
are smooth functions as required.
This concludes our discussion of spin and spacetime. In the next chapter we consider the concept of fields on spacetime.
Last revised on August 1, 2018 at 12:13:05. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.