A non-Hermitian version of Rashba Hamiltonian has been introduced motivated from the Levy-leblond type linearisation of Schrodinger equation in a Galilean invariant frame-work. The said Hamiltonian is found to be pseudo-Hermitian under fermionic time-reversal and its eigen-spinors show bi-orthogonality. The whole discussion has been cast in a Clifford algebraic frame-work and the said biorthogonality has been variously understood in terms of time-reversal operator and Clifford involutions. The possibility of an equivalent version of Kramers' degeneracy theorem has been explored and the super-symmetric and pseudo-super-symmetric structures relating to the present system are also discussed.
We give an algebraic formulation based on Clifford algebras and algebraic spinors for quantum information. In this context, logic gates and concepts such as chirality, charge conjugation, parity and time reversal are introduced and explored in connection with states of qubits. Supersymmetry and M-superalgebra are also analysed with our formalism. Specifically we use extensively the algebras $Cl_{3,0}$ and $Cl_{1,3}$ as well as tensor products of Clifford algebras.
This is a short review of the algebraic properties of Clifford algebras and spinors. Their use in the description of fundamental physics (elementary particles) is also summarized. Lecture given at the ICCA7 conference, Toulouse (23/05/2005)
Pinor and spinor fields are sections of the subbundles whose fibers are the representation spaces of the Clifford algebra of the forms, equipped with the Graf product. In this context, pinors and spinors are here considered and the geometric generalized Fierz identities provide the necessary framework to derive and construct new spinor classes on the space of smooth sections of the exterior bundle, endowed with the Graf product, for prominent specific signatures, whose applications are discussed.
In these lectures, we discuss some well-known facts about Clifford algebras: matrix representations, Cartan's periodicity of 8, double coverings of orthogonal groups by spin groups, Dirac equation in different formalisms, spinors in $n$ dimensions, etc. We also present our point of view on some problems. Namely, we discuss the generalization of the Pauli theorem, the basic ideas of the method of averaging in Clifford algebras, the notion of quaternion type of Clifford algebra elements, the classification of Lie subalgebras of specific type in Clifford algebra, etc.
Real Clifford algebras for arbitrary number of space and time dimensions as well as their representations in terms of spinors are reviewed and discussed. The Clifford algebras are classified in terms of isomorphic matrix algebras of real, complex or quaternionic type. Spinors are defined as elements of minimal or quasi-minimal left ideals within the Clifford algebra and as representations of the pin and spin groups. Two types of Dirac adjoint spinors are introduced carefully. The relation between mathematical structures and applications to describe relativistic fermions is emphasized throughou…
We show that complex representations of Clifford algebra can always be reduced either to a real or to a quaternionic algebra depending on signature of complex space thus showing that complex spinors are unavoidably either real Majorana spinors or quaternionic spinors. We use this result to support (1,3) signature for Minkowski space.
In this paper we discuss a simplified approach to the symplectic Clifford algebra, the symplectic Clifford group and the symplectic spinor by first extending the Heisenberg algebra. We do this by adding a new idempotent element to the algebra. It turns out that this element is the projection operator onto the Dirac standard ket. When this algebra is transformed into the Fock algebra, the corresponding idempotent is the projector onto the vacuum. These additional elements give a very simple way to write down expressions for symplectic spinors as elements of the symplectic Clifford algebra. When…
This paper is the second one of a series of three and it is the continuation of math-ph/0412074. We review some properties of the algebraic spinors in Cl(3,0) and Cl(0,3) and how Weyl, Pauli and Dirac spinors are constructed in Cl(3,0) (and Cl(0,3) in the case of Weyl spinors. A plane wave solution for the Dirac equation is obtained, and the Dirac equation is written in terms of Weyl spinors, and alternatively, in terms of Pauli spinors. Finally the covariant and contravariant undotted spinors in Cl(0,3), isomorphic to two copies of the quaternion algebra (H), are constructed. We prove that th…
This paper is the third of a series of three, and it is the continuation of math-ph/0412074 and math-ph/0412075. After reviewing the conformal spacetime structure, conformal maps are described in Minkowski spacetime as the twisted adjoint representation of the group Spin_+(2,4), acting on paravectors. Twistors are then presented via the paravector model of Clifford algebras and related to conformal maps in the Clifford algebra over the lorentzian R{4,1}$ spacetime. We construct twistors in Minkowski spacetime as algebraic spinors associated with the Dirac-Clifford algebra Cl(1,3)(C) using one …
Clifford number formalism for Maxwell equations is considered. The Clifford imaginary unit for space-time is introduced as coordinate independent form of fully antisymmetric fourth-rank tensor. The representation of Maxwell equations in massless Dirac equation form is considered; we also consider two approaches to the invariance of Dirac equation in respect of the Lorentz transformations. According to the first approach, the unknown column is invariant and according to the second approach it has the transformation properties known as spinorial ones. Clifford number representation for nonlinear…
Expository notes on Clifford algebras and spinors with a detailed discussion of Majorana, Weyl, and Dirac spinors. The paper is meant as a review of background material, needed, in particular, in now fashionable theoretical speculations on neutrino masses. It has a more mathematical flavour than the over twenty-seven-year-old "Introduction to Majorana masses" by P.D. Mannheim and includes historical notes and biographical data on past participants in the story.
A set of two-parameter bi-orthogonal eigen-spinors has been constructed from a deformed pseudo- Hermitian extension of Pauli Hamiltonian and its Hermitian conjugate. The Hamiltonians thus obtained are iso-spectral to the original Pauli Hamiltonian. A pair of spin-projection operators has been constructed as an essential ingredient of a possible bi-orthogonal quantum mechanics. An analogue of Kramers theorem in pseudo-Hermitian setting has also been inferred in a conjectural sense. The properties of time reversal and bi-orthogonality have been elaborated in the frame work of Clifford algebra Cl…
In this paper using the Clifford bundle (Cl(M,g)) and spin-Clifford bundle (Cl_{Spin_{1,3}^{e}}(M,g)) formalism, which permit to give a meaningfull representative of a Dirac-Hestenes spinor field (even section of Cl_{Spin_{1,3}^{e}}(M,g)) in the Clifford bundle , we give a geometrical motivated definition for the Lie derivative of spinor fields in a Lorentzian structure (M,g) where M is a manifold such that dimM =4, g is Lorentzian of signature (1,3). Our Lie derivative, called the spinor Lie derivative (and denoted £_{ξ}) is given by nice formulas when applied to Clifford and spinor fields, a…
Classification of quantum spinor fields according to quantum bilinear covariants is introduced in a context of quantum Clifford algebras on Minkowski spacetime. Once the bilinear covariants are expressed in terms of algebraic spinor fields, the duality between spinor and quantum spinor fields is thus discussed. Hence, by endowing the underlying spacetime with an arbitrary bilinear form with a antisymmetric part in addition to a symmetric spacetime metric, quantum algebraic spinor fields and deformed bilinear covariants can be constructed. They are therefore compared to the classical (non quant…
It is shown that since the geometric spinors are elements of Clifford algebras, they must have the same transformation properties as any other Clifford number. In general, a Clifford number $Φ$ transforms into a new Clifford number $Φ'$ according to $Φ\to Φ' = {\rm{R}}\,Φ\,{\rm{S}}$, i.e., by the multiplication from the left and from the right by two Clifford numbers ${\rm R}$ and ${\rm S}$. We study the case of $Cl(1,3)$, which is the Clifford algebra of the Minkowski spacetime. Depending on choice of ${\rm R}$ and ${\rm S}$, there are various possibilities, including the transformations of v…
A signature epsilon=(p,q) dependent transposition anti-involution T of real Clifford algebras Cl_{p,q} for non-degenerate quadratic forms was introduced in [arXiv.1005.3554v1]. In [arXiv.1005.3558v1] we showed that, depending on the value of (p-q) mod 8, the map T gives rise to transposition, complex Hermitian, or quaternionic Hermitian conjugation of representation matrices in spinor representation. The resulting scalar product is in general different from the two known standard scalar products [Lounesto, Clifford algebras and Spinors 2001]. We provide a full signature (p,q) dependent classif…
The main objective of this paper is to clarify the ontology of Dirac-Hestenes spinor fields (DHSF) and its relationship with sum of even multivector fields, on a general Riemann-Cartan spacetime admitting a spin structure and to give a mathematically rigorous derivation of the so called Dirac-Hestenes equation (DHE) when spacetime is a Lorentzian. To this aim we introduce the Clifford bundle of multivector fields (Cl(M,g)) and the left (Cl_{Spin_{1,3}^{e}}^{l}(M)) and right (Cl_{Spin_{1,3}^{e}}^{r}(M)) spin-Clifford bundles on the spin manifold (M,g) The relation between left ideal algebraic s…
$CPT$ groups for spinor fields in de Sitter and anti-de Sitter spaces are defined in the framework of automorphism groups of Clifford algebras. It is shown that de Sitter spaces with mutually opposite signatures correspond to Clifford algebras with different algebraic structure that induces an essential difference of $CPT$ groups associated with these spaces. $CPT$ groups for charged particles are considered with respect to phase factors on the various spinor spaces related with real subalgebras of the simple Clifford algebra over the complex field (Dirac algebra). It is shown that $CPT$ group…
We investigate the properties of the Extended Fock Basis (EFB) of Clifford algebras introduced in [1]. We show that a Clifford algebra can be seen as a direct sum of multiple spinor subspaces that are characterized as being left eigenvectors of Γ. We also show that a simple spinor, expressed in Fock basis, can have a maximum number of non zero coordinates that equals the size of the maximal totally null plane (with the notable exception of vectorial spaces with 6 dimensions).
In this paper, we show that via a novel construction every rank-3 root system induces a root system of rank 4. Via the Cartan-Dieudonné theorem, an even number of successive Coxeter reflections yields rotations that in a Clifford algebra framework are described by spinors. In three dimensions these spinors themselves have a natural four-dimensional Euclidean structure, and discrete spinor groups can therefore be interpreted as 4D polytopes. In fact, we show that these polytopes have to be root systems, thereby inducing Coxeter groups of rank 4, and that their automorphism groups include two fa…
In this work we explore the structure of Clifford algebras and the representations of the algebraic spinors in quantum information theory. Initially we present an general formulation through elements of left minimal ideals in tensor products of the Clifford algebra $Cl^{+}_{1,3}$. Posteriorly we perform some applications in quantum computation: qubits, entangled states, quantum gates, representations of the braid group, quantum teleportation, Majorana operators and supersymmetry. Finally, we discuss advantages related to standard Hilbert space formulation.
We show that Clifford algebras are closely related to the study of isoclinic subspaces of spinor spaces and, consequently, to the Hurwitz-Radon matrix problem. Isocliny angles are introduced to parametrize gamma matrices, i.e., matrix representations of the generators of finite-dimensional Clifford algebras C(m,n). Restricting the consideration to the Clifford algebra C(4,0), this parametrization is then applied to the study of Dirac traces occurring in Euclidean lattice quantum field theory within the hopping parameter expansion for Wilson fermions.
In this paper we show how to describe the general theory of a linear metric compatible connection with the theory of Clifford valued differential forms. This is done by realizing that for each spacetime point the algebra of Clifford bivectors is isomorphic to the Lie algebra of Sl(2,C). In that way the pullback of the linear connection under a trivialization of the bundle is represented by a Clifford valued 1-form. That observation makes it possible to realize Einstein's gravitational theory can be formulated in a way which is similar to a Sl(2,C) gauge theory. Some aspects of such approach is…
In this paper we examine a new class of five dimensional (5D) exact solutions in extra dimension gravity possessing Lie algebroid symmetry. The constructions provide a motivation for the theory of Clifford nonholonomic algebroids elaborated in Ref. hep-th/0501217. Such Einstein-Dirac spacetimes are parametrized by generic off--diagonal metrics and nonholonomic frames (vielbeins) with associated nonlinear connection structure. They describe self-consistent propagations of (3D) Dirac wave packets in 5D nonholonomically deformed Taub NUT spacetimes and have two physically distinct properties: Fis…
In this short pedagogical presentation, we introduce the spin groups and the spinors from the point of view of group theory. We also present, independently, the construction of the low dimensional Clifford algebras. And we establish the link between the two approaches. Finally, we give some notions of the generalisations to arbitrary spacetimes, by the introduction of the spin and spinor bundles.
In previous work by two of the present authors, twistors were re-interpreted as 4-d spinors with a position dependence within the formalism of geometric (Clifford) algebra. Here we extend that approach and justify the nature of the position dependence. We deduce the spinor representation of the restricted conformal group in geometric algebra, and use it to show that the position dependence is the result of the action of the translation operator in the conformal space on the 4-d spinor. We obtain the geometrical description of twistors through the conformal geometric algebra, and derive the Rob…
Based on a fact that complex Clifford algebras of even dimension are isomorphic to the matrix ones, we consider bundles in Clifford algebras whose structure group is a general linear group acting on a Clifford algebra by left multiplications, but not a group of its automorphisms. It is essential that such a Clifford algebra bundle contains spinor subbundles, and that it can be associated to a tangent bundle over a smooth manifold. This is just the case of gravitation theory. However, different these bundles need not be isomorphic. To characterize all of them, we follow the technique of composi…
We present different methods for symbolic computer algebra computations in higher dimensional (\ge9) Clifford algebras using the \Clifford\ and \Bigebra\ packages for \Maple(R). This is achieved using graded tensor decompositions, periodicity theorems and matrix spinor representations over Clifford numbers. We show how to code the graded algebra isomorphisms and the main involutions, and we provide some benchmarks.
We investigate using Clifford algebra methods the theory of algebraic dotted and undotted spinor fields over a Lorentzian spacetime and their realizations as matrix spinor fields, which are the usual dotted and undotted two component spinor fields. We found that some ad hoc rules postulated for the covariant derivatives of Pauli sigma matrices and also for the Dirac gamma matrices in General Relativity cover important physical meaning, which is not apparent in the usual matrix presentation of the theory of two components dotted and undotted spinor fields. We also discuss some issues related to…
Contemporary presentation of the version 1 demonstrates briefly the development of our investigations and our future goals. The improved free of difficulties in interpretation and printing errors version is presented. The 256-dimensional gamma matrix representations of the Clifford algebra and corresponding representations of SO(10) and SO(1,9) algebras over the field of real numbers are introduced. This turned out to be possible in the space of eight-component spinors, and not for the ordinary four-component Dirac spinors. The proposed mathematical objects allow the generalization of our resu…
We study briefly some properties of real Clifford algebras and identify them as matrix algebras. We then show that the representation space on which Clifford algebras act are spinors and we study in details matrix representations. The precise structure of these matrices gives rise to the type of spinors one is able to construct in a given space-time dimension: Majorana or Weyl. Properties of spinors are also studied. We finally show how Clifford algebras enable us to construct supersymmetric extensions of the Poincaré algebra. A special attention to the four, ten and eleven-dimensional space-t…
The three-dimensional universal complex Clifford algebra is used to represent relativistic vectors in terms of paravectors. In analogy to the Hestenes spacetime approach spinors are introduced in an algebraic form. This removes the dependance on an explicit matrix representation of the algebra.
Quantum Clifford Algebras (QCA), i.e. Clifford Hopf gebras based on bilinear forms of arbitrary symmetry, are treated in a broad sense. Five alternative constructions of QCAs are exhibited. Grade free Hopf gebraic product formulas are derived for meet and join of Grassmann-Cayley algebras including co-meet and co-join for Grassmann-Cayley co-gebras which are very efficient and may be used in Robotics, left and right contractions, left and right co-contractions, Clifford and co-Clifford products, etc. The Chevalley deformation, using a Clifford map, arises as a special case. We discuss Hopf alg…
We propose a new framework for constructing geometric and physical models on nonholonomic manifolds provided both with Clifford -- Lie algebroid symmetry and nonlinear connection structure. Explicit parametrizations of generic off-diagonal metrics and linear and nonlinear connections define different types of Finsler, Lagrange and/or Riemann-Cartan spaces. A generalization to spinor fields and Dirac operators on nonholonomic manifolds motivates the theory of Clifford algebroids defined as Clifford bundles, in general, enabled with nonintegrable distributions defining the nonlinear connection. …
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.
A particular orthogonal map on a finite dimensional real quadratic vector space (V,Q) with a non-degenerate quadratic form Q of any signature (p,q) is considered. It can be viewed as a correlation of the vector space that leads to a dual Clifford algebra CL(V^*,Q) of linear functionals (multiforms) acting on the universal Clifford algebra CL(V,Q). The map results in a unique involutive automorphism and a unique involutive anti-automorphism of CL(V,Q). The anti-involution reduces to reversion (resp. conjugation) for any Euclidean (resp. anti-Euclidean) signature. When applied to a general eleme…
Given a real representation of the Clifford algebra corresponding to $R^{p+q}$ with metric of signature $(p,q)$, we demonstrate the existence of two natural bilinear forms on the space of spinors. With the Clifford action of $k$-forms on spinors, the bilinear forms allow us to relate two spinors with elements of the exterior algebra. From manipulations of a rank four spinorial tensor, we are able to find a general class of identities which, upon specializing from four spinors to two spinors and one spinor in signatures (1,3) and (10,1), yield some well-known Fierz identities. We will see, surp…
Recent work has shown that every 3D root system allows the construction of a correponding 4D root system via an `induction theorem'. In this paper, we look at the icosahedral case of $H_3\rightarrow H_4$ in detail and perform the calculations explicitly. Clifford algebra is used to perform group theoretic calculations based on the versor theorem and the Cartan-Dieudonné theorem, giving a simple construction of the Pin and Spin covers. Using this connection with $H_3$ via the induction theorem sheds light on geometric aspects of the $H_4$ root system (the $600$-cell) as well as other related po…
Let $(V,g)$ be a $2n$-dimensional hyperbolic space and $C(V,g)$ its Clifford algebra. $C(V,g)$ has a $\mathbb Z$-grading, $C^k $, and an algebra isomorphism $C(V,g)\cong End(S)$, $S$ the space of spinors. É. Cartan defined operators $L_k: End(S) \to C^k$ which are involved in the definition of pure spinors. We shall give a more refined study of the operator $L_2$, in fact, obtain explicit formulae for it in terms of spinor inner products and combinatorics, as well as the matrix of it in a basis of pure spinors. Using this information we give a construction of the exceptional Lie algebras $\mat…
We resolve the space-time canonical variables of the relativistic point particle into inner products of Weyl spinors with components in a Clifford algebra and find that these spinors themselves form a canonical system with generalized Poisson brackets. For N particles, the inner products of their Clifford coordinates and momenta form two NxN Hermitian matrices X and P which transform under a U(N) symmetry in the generating algebra. This is used as a starting point for defining matrix mechanics for a point particle in Clifford space. Next we consider the string. The Lorentz metric induces a met…
This paper is intended to describe twistors via the paravector model of Clifford algebras and to relate such description to conformal maps in the Clifford algebra over R(4,1), besides pointing out some applications of the pure spinor formalism. We construct twistors in Minkowski spacetime as algebraic spinors associated with the Dirac-Clifford algebra, using one lower spacetime dimension than standard Clifford algebra formulations, since for this purpose the Clifford algebra over R{4,1} is also used to describe conformal maps, instead of R{2,4}. It is possible to identify the twistor fiber in …
We formulate a Boolean algebra in the set of idempotents of Clifford algebra Cl($R^{n,n}$) and within this frame we examine different formulations of the Boolean Satisfiability Problem in Clifford algebra. Exploiting the isomorphism between null subspaces of $R^{n,n}$ associated to simple spinors and the orthogonal group O(n) we ultimately give a continuous formulation of the Boolean Satisfiability Problem within this group that opens unexplored perspectives.
We present a formulation of the Boolean Satisfiability Problem in spinor language that allows to give a necessary and sufficient condition for unsatisfiability. With this result we outline an algorithm to test for unsatisfiability with possibly interesting theoretical properties.
In this paper we give a thoughtful exposition of the hyperbolic Clifford algebra of multivecfors which is naturally associated with a hyperbolic space, whose elements are called vecfors. Geometrical interpretation of vecfors and multivecfors are given. Poincare automorphism (Hodge dual operator) is introduced and several useful formulas derived. The role of a particular ideal in the hyperbolic Clifford algebra whose elements are representatives of spinors and resume the algebraic properties of Witten superfields is discussed.
In order to realize supersymmetric quantum mechanics methods on a four dimensional classical phase-space, the complexified Clifford algebra of this space is extended by deforming it with the Moyal star-product in composing the components of Clifford forms. Two isospectral matrix Hamiltonians having a common bosonic part but different fermionic parts depending on four real-valued phase space functions are obtained. The Hamiltonians are doubly intertwined via matrix-valued functions which are divisors of zero in the resulting Moyal-Clifford algebra. Two illustrative examples corresponding to Jay…
Spinor representations of surfaces immersed into 4-dimensional pseudo-riemannian manifolds are defined in terms of minimal left ideals and tensor decompositions of Clifford algebras. The classification of spinor fields and Dirac operators on the immersed surfaces is given. The Dirac-Hestenes spinor field on surfaces immersed into Lorentzian manifolds and on surfaces conformally immersed into Minkowski spacetime is defined.
Quaternionic representations of Coxeter (reflection) groups of ranks 3 and 4, as well as those of E_8, have been used extensively in the literature. The present paper analyses such Coxeter groups in the Clifford Geometric Algebra framework, which affords a simple way of performing reflections and rotations whilst exposing more clearly the underlying geometry. The Clifford approach shows that the quaternionic representations in fact have very simple geometric interpretations. The representations of the groups A_1 x A_1 x A_1, A_3, B_3 and H_3 of rank 3 in terms of pure quaternions are shown to …
In this paper, we make the case that Clifford algebra is the natural framework for root systems and reflection groups, as well as related groups such as the conformal and modular groups: The metric that exists on these spaces can always be used to construct the corresponding Clifford algebra. Via the Cartan-Dieudonné theorem all the transformations of interest can be written as products of reflections and thus via `sandwiching' with Clifford algebra multivectors. These multivector groups can be used to perform concrete calculations in different groups, e.g. the various types of polyhedral grou…
Because of the isomorphism ${C \kern -0.1em \ell}_{1,3}(\Bbb{C})\cong{C \kern -0.1em \ell}_{2,3}(\Bbb{R})$, it is possible to complexify the spacetime Clifford algebra ${C \kern -0.1em \ell}_{1,3}(\Bbb{R})$ by adding one additional timelike dimension to the Minkowski spacetime. In a recent work we showed how this treatment provide a particular interpretation of Dirac particles and antiparticles in terms of the new temporal dimension. In this article we thoroughly study the structure of the real Clifford algebra ${C \kern -0.1em \ell}_{2,3}(\Bbb{R})$ paying special attention to the isomorphism …
We show that the quantized free relativistic point particle can be understood as a string in a Clifford space which generates the space-time coordinates through its inner product. The generating algebra is preserved by a unitary symmetry which becomes the symmetry of the quantum states. We start by resolving the space-time canonical variables of the point particle into inner products of Weyl spinors with components in a Clifford algebra. Next, we show that a system of N particles has a U(N) symmetry that mixes the Clifford coordinates and momenta belonging to different particles. The inner pro…
We investigate the construction and properties of Clifford algebras by a similar manner as our previous construction of the octonions, namely as a twisting of group algebras of Z_2^n by a cocycle. Our approach is more general than the usual one based on generators and relations. We obtain in particular the periodicity properties and a new construction of spinors in terms of left and right multiplication in the Clifford algebra.
The infinite dimensional Clifford Algebra has a maze of irreducible unitary representations. Here we determine their type -real, complex or quaternionic. Some, related to the Fermi-Fock representations, have no real or quetrnionic structures. But there are many on L(2) of the circle that do and which seem to have analytic meaning.
