This is a review of some elementary properties of Dirac, Weyl and Majorana spinors in 4d. We focus in particular on the differences between massless Dirac and Majorana fermions, on one side, and Weyl fermions, on the other. We review in detail the definition of their effective actions, when coupled to (vector and axial) gauge fields, and revisit the corresponding anomalies using the Feynman diagram method with different regularizations. Among various well known results we stress in particular the regularization independence in perturbative approaches, while not all the regularizations fit the non-perturbative ones. As for anomalies, we highlight in particular one perhaps not so well known feature: the rigid relation between chiral and trace anomalies.
A pseudoclassical theories of Majorana, Weyl and Majorana--Weyl particles in the space--time dimensions $D=2n$ are constructed. The canonical quantization of these theories is carried out and as a result we obtain the quantum mechanical description of neutral particle in $D=2n$ , Weyl particle in $D=2n$ and neutral Weyl particle in $D=4n+2$. In $D=2,4({\rm mod}8)$ dimensional space--time the description of the neutral particle coincides with the field theoretical description of the Majorana particle in the Foldy--Wouthuysen representation. In $D=8k+2$ dimensions the neutral Weyl particle coinc…
Higher dimensional Majorana-Weyl spacetimes present space-time dualities which are induced by the Spin(8) triality automorphisms. This corresponds to a very fundamental property of the supersymmetry in higher dimensions, i.e. that any given theory can be formulated in different signatures all interconnected by the S_3 permutation group.
Majorana-Weyl spacetimes offer a rich algebraic setup and new types of space-time dualities besides those discussed by Hull. The triality automorphisms of Spin(8) act non-trivially on Majorana-Weyl representations and Majorana-Weyl spacetimes with different signatures. In particular relations exist among the (1+9)-(5+5)-(9+1) spacetimes, as well as their transverse coordinates spacetimes (0+8)-(4+4)-(8+0). Larger dimensional spacetimes such as (2+10)-(6+6)-(10+2) also show dualities induced by triality. A precise three-languages dictionary is here given. It furnishes the exact translations amo…
A self-contained derivation of the formalism describing Weyl, Majorana and Dirac fields from a unified perspective is given based on a concise description of the representation theory of the proper orthochronous Lorentz group. Lagrangian methods play no role in the present exposition, which covers several fundamental aspects of relativistic field theory which are commonly not included in introductory courses when treating fermionic fields via the Dirac equation in the first place.
Higher dimensional Majorana-Weyl spacetimes present space-time dualities which are induced by the Spin(8) triality automorphisms. Different signature versions of theories such as 10-dimensional SYM's, superstrings, five-branes, F-theory, are shown to be interconnected via the S_3 permutation group. Bilinear and trilinear invariants under space-time triality are introduced and their possible relevance in building models possessing a space-versus-time exchange symmetry is discussed. Moreover the Cartan's ``vector/chiral spinor/antichiral spinor" triality of SO(8) and SO(4,4) is analyzed in detai…
The properties of Dirac gamma matrices in a four-dimensional space-time with the $(2,2)$ signature are studied. The basic spinors are classified, and the existence of Majorana-Weyl spinors is noted. Supersymmetry in $2 + 2$ dimensions is discussed, and the existence of the {\it real chiral} scalar supermultiplet is discovered. Supersymmetric {\it self-dual} Yang-Mills theories and {\it self-dual} supergravity model in $2 + 2$ dimensions, that are apparently relevant to integrable systems, are formulated for the first time.
In various dimensional Euclidean lattice gauge theories, we examine a compatibility of the Majorana decomposition and the charge conjugation property of lattice Dirac operators. In $8n$ and $1+8n$ dimensions, we find a difficulty to decompose a classical lattice action of the Dirac fermion into a system of the Majorana fermion and thus to obtain a factorized form of the Dirac determinant. Similarly, in $2+8n$ dimensions, there is a difficulty to decompose a classical lattice action of the Weyl fermion into a system of the Majorana--Weyl fermion and thus to obtain a factrized form of the Weyl d…
General spinors in polar form display a structure that is made up by real scalar degrees of freedom plus six components which can be recognized as Goldstone bosons: in the present paper we show that of all singular spinors, Weyl and Majorana spinors have no real degree of freedom and so that they can be interpreted as pure Goldstone states.
An overlap method for regularizing Majorana--Weyl fermions interacting with gauge fields is presented. A mod(2) index is introduced in relation to the anomalous violation of a discrete global chiral symmetry. Most of the paper is restricted to 2 dimensions but generalizations to 2+8k dimensions should be straightforward.
This is a pedagogical article which discusses various kinds of fermion fields: Dirac, Majorana and Weyl. The definitions and motivations for introducing each kind of fields is discussed, along with the connections between them. It is pointed out that these definitions have to do with the proper Lorentz group, and not with respect to any discrete symmetry. The relationship of discrete symmetries like charge conjugation and CP, particularly important for Majorana fermions, has also been clarified.
We present two band models for free fermion with charge conjugation symmetry in three dimensions. Without time reversal symmetry (TRS), the weak pairing gapless $A$-phase is a Majorana fermion $p_x+ip_y$ wave FFLO state while the strong pairing gapped $B$-phase belongs to topologically trivial Class $D$. With TRS, there is a Majorana fermion $B$-phase belonging to Class $DIII$ with a non-zero Hopf invariant. The TRS $A$-phase is also a Majorana fermion FFLO state with TRS. The surface states of the TRS $B$-phase are either a valley-momentum locked Majorana-Dirac cone or a linear-quadratic mixe…
The possibility to distinguish Dirac from Majorana fermion by gravitational interaction and torsion coupling is discussed. The scattering of both Dirac and Majorana particles are the same in the spherically symmetric gravitational field up to the first order perturbation of the fermion-gravity interaction. The scattering behaviors of Dirac and Majorana fermion are also the same by axial vector torsion but different by vector torsion. We get the conclusion that the scattering by vector torsion field can distinguish the Dirac from Majorana neutrino.
After a quick historical account of the introduction of the group-theoretical description of Quantum Mechanics in terms of symmetries, as proposed by Weyl, we examine some unpublished papers by Ettore Majorana. Remarkable results achieved by him in frontier research topics as well as in physics teaching point out that the Italian physicist can be well considered as a follower of Weyl in his reformulation of Quantum Mechanics.
We discuss the structure of the Dirac equation and how the nilpotent and the Majorana operators arise naturally in this context. This provides a link between Kauffman's work on discrete physics, iterants and Majorana Fermions and the work on nilpotent structures and the Dirac equation of Peter Rowlands. We give an expression in split quaternions for the Majorana Dirac equation in one dimension of time and three dimensions of space. Majorana discovered a version of the Dirac equation that can be expressed entirely over the real numbers. This led him to speculate that the solutions to his versio…
We construct a map between the quantum field theory of free Weyl or Majorana fermions and the probability distribution of a classical statistical ensemble for Ising spins or discrete bits. More precisely, a Grassmann functional integral based on a real Grassmann algebra specifies the time evolution of the real wave function $q_τ(t)$ for the Ising states $τ$. The time dependent probability distribution of a generalized Ising model obtains as $p_τ(t)=q^2_τ(t)$. The functional integral employs a lattice regularization for single Weyl or Majorana spinors. We further introduce the complex structure…
Two-particle interferometry, a second-order interference effect, is explored as another possible tool to distinguish between massive Dirac and Majorana neutrinos. A simple theoretical framework is discussed in the context of several gedanken experiments. The method can in principle provide both the mass scale and the quantum nature of the neutrino for a certain class of incoherent left-handed source currents.
Massive neutrinos are guaranteed to have nonzero electromagnetic moments and, since there are at least three neutrino species, these dipole moments define a matrix. Here, we estimate the current upper bounds on all independent neutrino electromagnetic moments, concentrating on Earth-bound experiments and measurements with solar neutrinos, including the very recent results reported by XENONnT. We make no simplifying assumptions and compare the hypotheses that neutrinos are Majorana fermions or Dirac fermions. In particular, we fully explore constraints in the Dirac-neutrino parameter space. Maj…
The Jackiw-Nair description of anyons combines spin-1 topologically massive fields with the discrete series representation of the Lorentz algebra, which has fractional spin. In the Dirac-Majorana formulation the spin-1 part is replaced by the spin 1/2 planar Dirac equation. The two models are shown to belong to an N=1 supermultiplet, which carries a super-Poincare symmetry.
Motivated by an apparent paradox in [X L. Qi, E.Witten, S-C. Zhang, Phys. Rev. B 87 134519 (2013)] we use the method of gauged Wess-Zumino-Witten functionals to construct an effective action for a Weyl fermion whose Majorana mass arises from coupling to a charged condensate. We obtain expressions for the current induced by an external gauge field and observe that the topological part of the current is only one-third of that that might have been expected from the gauge anomaly. The anomaly is not changed by the induced mass gap however. The topological current is supplemented by a conventional …
We study the dynamics of Majorana fermions in an expanding de Sitter space and to that aim we construct the vacuum Feynman propagator for Majorana fermions in de Sitter space. Surprisingly, the Majorana propagator is identical to that of the Dirac fermions. We then use this propagator and calculate the one-loop effective action for Majorana fermions, and show that it differs from that of Dirac fermions by a factor of 1/2, which accounts for the reduced number of degrees of freedom of the Majorana particle. Finally, we derive the Majorana and Dirac propagators for mixing fermionic flavors, whic…
We show that spin-gravity interaction can distinguish between Dirac and Majorana neutrino wave packets propagating in a Lense-Thirring background. Using time-independent perturbation theory and gravitational phase to generate a perturbation Hamiltonian with spin-gravity coupling, we show that the associated matrix element for the Majorana neutrino differs significantly from its Dirac counterpart. This difference can be demonstrated through significant gravitational corrections to the neutrino oscillation length for a two-flavour system, as shown explicitly for SN1987A.
We study the theoretical features in relation to dynamical mass generation and symmetry breaking for the recently proposed holomorphic supersymmetric Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model. The basic model has two different chiral superfields (multiplets) with a strongly coupled dimension five four-superfield interaction. In addition to the possibility of generation of Dirac mass between the pair established earlier, we show here the new option of generation of Majorana masses for each chiral superfield. We also give a first look at what condition may prefer Dirac over Majorana mass, illustrating that a sp…
We investigate purely leptonic decays of leptons $ł^{\prime-}\to l^-\barν_lν_{l^{\prime}}$ to distinguish Dirac or Majorana neutrinos. We derive the differences of the decay width (and associated quantities) between the two neutrino hypotheses by the effect of identical particles. Evidence from experimental data makes the hypothesis of Majorana neutrinos very unlikely and our results strongly favor the hypothesis of Dirac neutrinos (in the standard three-neutrino theory). Moreover, our exploration for decay widths can be extended to the polarization angles of leptons, which will inspire new in…
A gauged Dirac-Weyl equation in (2+1)-dimension is considered. This equation has the particularity to describe the states of a graphene Dirac matter. In particular we are interested in matter interacting with a Chern-Simons gauge fields. We show that exact self-dual solutions are admitted. These solutions are the same as those supported by nonrelativistic matter interacting with a Chern-Simons gauge field.
We derive the Weyl anomaly in two dimensional space-time by considering the Dirac sea regularized some negatively counted formally bosonic extra species.In fact we calculate the trace of the energy-momentum tensor of the Dirac sea in a background gravitational field. It has to be regularized, since otherwise the Dirac sea is bottomless and thus causes divergence. The new regularization method consists in adding various massive species some of which are to be counted negative in the Dirac sea.The mass term in the Lagrangian of the regularization fields have a dependence on the background gravit…
Testing Seesaw and Leptogenesis via Gravitational Waves: Majorana versus Dirac
University of Sussex（萨塞克斯大学）；National Astronomical Observatory of Japan（日本国立天文台）；The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)（综合研究大学院大学）；KEK（高能加速器研究机构）；The University of Tokyo（东京大学）
The elements of the contrained dynamics algorithm in the De Donder-Weyl (DW) Hamiltonian theory for degenerate Lagrangian theories are discussed. A generalization of the Dirac bracket to the DW Hamiltonian theory with second class constraints (defined in the text) is presented.
The semiclassical kinetic theory of Dirac particles in the presence of external electromagnetic fields and global rotation is established. To provide the Hamiltonian formulation of Dirac particles a symplectic two-form which is a matrix in spin indices is proposed. The particle number and current densities for the Dirac particles are acquired in the helicity basis. Following a similar procedure, semiclassical kinetic theory of the Weyl particles is accomplished. It is shown that the phase-space dynamics of the Weyl and Dirac particles is directly linked. The anomalous chiral effects due to the…
We review the non-trivial issue of the relativistic description of a quantum mechanical system that, contrary to a common belief, kept theoreticians busy from the end of 1920s to (at least) mid 1940s. Starting by the well-known works by Klein-Gordon and Dirac, we then give an account of the main results achieved by a variety of different authors, ranging from de Broglie to Proca, Majorana, Fierz-Pauli, Kemmer, Rarita-Schwinger and many others. A particular interest comes out for the general problem of the description of particles with \textit{arbitrary} spin, introduced (and solved) by Majoran…
The Weyl fermions with a well defined chirality are known to demand that the dimension of space which they inhabit must be odd. It is shown here, however, that not all odd dimensional spaces are equally good hosts: in particular, an arbitrary number of chiral Weyl fermions can acquire a Majorana mass only in three (modulo eight) dimensions. The argument utilizes a) the precise analogy that exists between the Majorana mass term and the Cooper pairing of time-reversed Weyl fermions, and b) the conditions on the requisite time-reversal operator, which are implied by the Clifford algebra. The theo…
