In this largely expository paper we give a self-contained treatment of the Dirac operator. Emphasizing the algebraic point of view we first sketch the necessary prerequisites from Clifford algebras and their representations and then define (and characterize) spin structures and the corresponding Spin-Dirac operator purely in the spirit of irreducible representations. We also prove its equivalence with the usual approach via principal bundles. We conclude with other geometric Dirac operators and their properties using the afore-mentioned setting.
This paper clarifies a global structure of Stokes-Dirac structures used for describing interconnected port-Hamiltonian systems defined on manifolds with non-trivial topology under consistent boundary condition.
We construct several natural connections and Dirac type operators on a general metric contact manifold which are more sensitive to the geometric background. In the special case of CR manifolds these connections are also compatible with the CR structure and include among them the Webster connection. We also describe several Weitzenbock type formulae. Our method is based on work of P. Gauduchon applied to two almost complex manifolds naturally associated to a given metric contact manifold.
We give a survey of results relating the restricted holonomy of a Riemannian spin manifold with lower bounds on the spectrum of its Dirac operator, giving a new proof of a result originally due to Kirchberg.
We develop estimates for the solutions and derive existence and uniqueness results of various local boundary value problems for Dirac equations that improve all relevant results known in the literature. With these estimates at hand, we derive a general existence, uniqueness and regularity theorem for solutions of Dirac equations with such boundary conditions. We also apply these estimates to a new nonlinear elliptic-parabolic problem, the Dirac-harmonic heat flow on Riemannian spin manifolds. This problem is motivated by the supersymmetric nonlinear $σ$-model and combines a harmonic heat flow …
We write the Dirac equation in curved 4-dimensional Lorentzian spacetime using concepts from the analysis of partial differential equations as opposed to geometric concepts.
This is a survey article on a known generalization of Dirac-type operators to transverse operators called basic Dirac operators on Riemannian foliations, which are smooth foliations that have a transverse geometric structure. Construction of these operators requires the additional structure of what is called a bundle-like metric. We explain the result by Habib-R. that the spectrum of such an operator is independent of the choice of bundle-like metric, provided that the transverse geometric structure is fixed. We discuss consequences, which include defining a new version of the exterior derivat…
We survey the correct definition of a generalized Dirac operator on a Space--Time and the classical result about propagation of singularities. This says that light travels along light--like geodesics. Finally we show this is also true for generalized Dirac operators.
We show that, in round spheres of dimension $n\geq3$, for any given collection of codimension 2 smooth submanifolds $\mathfrak{S}:=\{Σ_1,...,Σ_N\}$ of arbitrarily complicated topology ($N$ being the complex dimension of the spinor bundle), there is always an eigenfunction $ψ=(ψ_1,...,ψ_N)$ of the Dirac operator such that each submanifold $Σ_a$, modulo ambient diffeomorphism, is a structurally stable nodal set of the spinor component $ψ_a$. The result holds for any choice of trivialization of the spinor bundle. The emergence of these structures takes place at small scales and sufficiently high …
Dirac structures are geometric objects that generalize both Poisson structures and presymplectic structures on manifolds. They naturally appear in the formulation of constrained mechanical systems. In this paper, we show that the evolution equa- tions for nonequilibrium thermodynamics admit an intrinsic formulation in terms of Dirac structures, both on the Lagrangian and the Hamiltonian settings. In absence of irreversible processes these Dirac structures reduce to canonical Dirac structures associated to canonical symplectic forms on phase spaces. Our geometric formulation of nonequilibrium t…
The harmonic sections of the Kaluza-Klein model can be seen as a variant of harmonic maps with additional gauge symmetry. Geometrically, they are realized as sections of a fiber bundle associated to a principal bundle with a connection. In this paper, we investigate geometric and analytic aspects of a model that combines the Kaluza-Klein model with the Yang-Mills action and a Dirac action for twisted spinors. In dimension two we show that weak solutions of the Euler-Lagrange system are smooth. For a sequence of approximate solutions on surfaces with uniformly bounded energies we obtain compact…
We considered an extension of the standard functional for the Einstein-Dirac equation where the Dirac operator is replaced by the square of the Dirac operator and a real parameter controlling the length of spinors is introduced. For one distinguished value of the parameter, the resulting Euler-Lagrange equations provide a new type of Einstein-Dirac coupling. We establish a special method for constructing global smooth solutions of a newly derived Einstein-Dirac system called the {\it CL-Einstein-Dirac equation of type II} (see Definition 3.1).
We study ten-dimensional supersymmetric vacua with NSNS non-geometric fluxes, in the framework of $β$-supergravity. We first provide expressions for the fermionic supersymmetry variations. Specifying a compactification ansatz to four dimensions, we deduce internal Killing spinor equations. These supersymmetry conditions are then reformulated in terms of pure spinors, similarly to standard supergravity vacua admitting an SU(3)xSU(3) structure in Generalized Complex Geometry. The standard d-H acting on the pure spinors is traded for a generalized Dirac operator D, depending here on the non-geome…
The search for a geometric interpretation of the constrained brackets of Dirac led to the definition of the Courant bracket. The search for the right notion of a "double" for Lie bialgebroids led to the definition of Courant algebroids. We recount the emergence of these concepts.
Consider a formally self-adjoint first order linear differential operator acting on pairs (2-columns) of complex-valued scalar fields over a 4-manifold without boundary. We examine the geometric content of such an operator and show that it implicitly contains a Lorentzian metric, Pauli matrices, connection coefficients for spinor fields and an electromagnetic covector potential. This observation allows us to give a simple representation of the massive Dirac equation as a system of four scalar equations involving an arbitrary two-by-two matrix operator as above and its adjugate. The point of th…
There is a certain family of conformally invariant first order elliptic operators on Riemannian spin manifold which include Dirac operator as its first and simplest member. Their general definition is given and their basic properties are described. A special attention is paid to the Rarita-Schwinger operator the second simplest operator in the row. Its basic properties are described in more details. In the last part indices of discussed operators are computed.
We extend the definition of the Nijenhuis torsion of an endomorphism of a Lie algebroid to that of a relation, and we prove that the torsion of the relation defined by a bi-Hamiltonian structure vanishes. Following Gelfand and Dorfman, we then define Dirac pairs, and we analyze the relationship of this general notion with the various kinds of compatible structures on manifolds, more generally on Lie algebroids.
We define and discuss the notion of pseudospherical surfaces in asymptotic coordinates on time scales. Thus we extend well known notions of discrete pseudospherical surfaces and smooth pseudosperical surfaces on more exotic domains (e.g, the Cantor set). In particular, we present a new expression for the discrete Gaussian curvature which turns out to be valid for asymptotic nets on any time scale. We show that asymptotic Chebyshev nets on an arbitrary time scale have constant negative Gaussian curvature. We present also the quaternion-valued spectral problem (the Lax pair) and the Darboux-Back…
We propose a geometric approach to construct the Cauchy evolution operator for the Lorentzian Dirac operator on Cauchy-compact globally hyperbolic 4-manifolds. We realise the Cauchy evolution operator as the sum of two invariantly defined oscillatory integrals -- the positive and negative Dirac propagators -- global in space and in time, with distinguished complex-valued geometric phase functions. As applications, we relate the Cauchy evolution operators with the Feynman propagator and construct Cauchy surfaces covariances of quasifree Hadamard states.
Suppose that $(M,E)$ is a compact contact manifold, and that a compact Lie group $G$ acts on $M$ transverse to the contact distribution $E$. In an earlier paper, we defined a $G$-transversally elliptic Dirac operator $\dirac$, constructed using a Hermitian metric $h$ and connection $\nabla$ on the symplectic vector bundle $E\rightarrow M$, whose equivariant index is well-defined as a generalized function on $G$, and gave a formula for its index. By analogy with the geometric quantization of symplectic manifolds, the $\mathbb{Z}_2$-graded Hilbert space $Q(M)=\ker \dirac \oplus \ker \dirac^{*}$ …
We review the concepts of the index of a Fredholm operator, the spectral flow of a curve of self-adjoint Fredholm operators, the Maslov index of a curve of Lagrangian subspaces in symplectic Hilbert space, and the eta invariant of operators of Dirac type on closed manifolds and manifolds with boundary. We emphasize various (occasionally overlooked) aspects of rigorous definitions and explain the quite different stability properties. Moreover, we utilize the heat equation approach in various settings and show how these topological and spectral invariants are mutually related in the study of add…
We consider an elliptic self-adjoint first order differential operator L acting on pairs (2-columns) of complex-valued half-densities over a connected compact 3-dimensional manifold without boundary. The principal symbol of the operator L is assumed to be trace-free and the subprincipal symbol is assumed to be zero. Given a positive scalar weight function, we study the weighted eigenvalue problem for the operator L. The corresponding counting function (number of eigenvalues between zero and a positive lambda) is known to admit, under appropriate assumptions on periodic trajectories, a two-term…
