Spin representation

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Template:Short description In mathematics, the spin representations are particular projective representations of the orthogonal or special orthogonal groups in arbitrary dimension and signature (i.e., including indefinite orthogonal groups). More precisely, they are two equivalent representations of the spin groups, which are double covers of the special orthogonal groups. They are usually studied over the real or complex numbers, but they can be defined over other fields.

Elements of a spin representation are called spinors. They play an important role in the physical description of fermions such as the electron.

The spin representations may be constructed in several ways, but typically the construction involves (perhaps only implicitly) the choice of a maximal isotropic subspace in the vector representation of the group. Over the real numbers, this usually requires using a complexification of the vector representation. For this reason, it is convenient to define the spin representations over the complex numbers first, and derive real representations by introducing real structures.

The properties of the spin representations depend, in a subtle way, on the dimension and signature of the orthogonal group. In particular, spin representations often admit invariant bilinear forms, which can be used to embed the spin groups into classical Lie groups. In low dimensions, these embeddings are surjective and determine special isomorphisms between the spin groups and more familiar Lie groups; this elucidates the properties of spinors in these dimensions.

Set-up

Let VScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". be a finite-dimensional real or complex vector space with a nondegenerate quadratic form QScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. The (real or complex) linear maps preserving QScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". form the orthogonal group O(V, Q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. The identity component of the group is called the special orthogonal group SO(V, Q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. (For VScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". real with an indefinite quadratic form, this terminology is not standard: the special orthogonal group is usually defined to be a subgroup with two components in this case.) Up to group isomorphism, SO(V, Q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". has a unique connected double cover, the spin group Spin(V, Q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. There is thus a group homomorphism h: Spin(V, Q) → SO(V, Q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". whose kernel has two elements denoted {1, −1}Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., where 1Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is the identity element. Thus, the group elements gScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and −gScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". of Spin(V, Q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". are equivalent after the homomorphism to SO(V, Q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".; that is, h(g) = h(−g)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". for any gScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". in Spin(V, Q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"..

The groups O(V, Q), SO(V, Q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and Spin(V, Q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". are all Lie groups, and for fixed (V, Q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". they have the same Lie algebra, so(V, Q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. If VScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is real, then VScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is a real vector subspace of its complexification VC = VR CScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., and the quadratic form QScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". extends naturally to a quadratic form QCScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". on VCScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. This embeds SO(V, Q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". as a subgroup of SO(VC, QC)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., and hence we may realise Spin(V, Q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". as a subgroup of Spin(VC, QC)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. Furthermore, so(VC, QC)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is the complexification of so(V, Q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"..

In the complex case, quadratic forms are determined uniquely up to isomorphism by the dimension nScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". of VScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. Concretely, we may assume V = CnScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and

Q(z1,,zn)=z12+z22++zn2.

The corresponding Lie groups are denoted O(n, C), SO(n, C), Spin(n, C)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and their Lie algebra as so(n, C)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"..

In the real case, quadratic forms are determined up to isomorphism by a pair of nonnegative integers (p, q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". where n = p + qScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is the dimension of VScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., and pqScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is the signature. Concretely, we may assume V = RnScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and

Q(x1,,xn)=x12+x22++xp2(xp+12++xp+q2).

The corresponding Lie groups and Lie algebra are denoted O(p, q), SO(p, q), Spin(p, q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and so(p, q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. We write Rp,qScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". in place of RnScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". to make the signature explicit.

The spin representations are, in a sense, the simplest representations of Spin(n, C)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and Spin(p, q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". that do not come from representations of SO(n, C)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and SO(p, q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. A spin representation is, therefore, a real or complex vector space SScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". together with a group homomorphism ρScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". from Spin(n, C)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". or Spin(p, q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". to the general linear group GL(S)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". such that the element −1Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is not in the kernel of ρScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"..

If SScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is such a representation, then according to the relation between Lie groups and Lie algebras, it induces a Lie algebra representation, i.e., a Lie algebra homomorphism from so(n, C)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". or so(p, q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". to the Lie algebra gl(S)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". of endomorphisms of SScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". with the commutator bracket.

Spin representations can be analysed according to the following strategy: if SScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is a real spin representation of Spin(p, q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., then its complexification is a complex spin representation of Spin(p, q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".; as a representation of so(p, q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., it therefore extends to a complex representation of so(n, C)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. Proceeding in reverse, we therefore first construct complex spin representations of Spin(n, C)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and so(n, C)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., then restrict them to complex spin representations of so(p, q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and Spin(p, q)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., then finally analyse possible reductions to real spin representations.

Complex spin representations

Let V = CnScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". with the standard quadratic form QScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". so that

𝔰𝔬(V,Q)=𝔰𝔬(n,).

The symmetric bilinear form on VScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". associated to QScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". by polarization is denoted Template:Langle.,.Template:RangleScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"..

Isotropic subspaces and root systems

A standard construction of the spin representations of so(n, C)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". begins with a choice of a pair (W, W)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". of maximal totally isotropic subspaces (with respect to QScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".) of VScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". with WW = 0Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. Let us make such a choice. If n = 2mScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". or n = 2m + 1Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., then WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". both have dimension mScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. If n = 2mScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., then V = WWScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., whereas if n = 2m + 1Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., then V = WUWScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., where UScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is the 1-dimensional orthogonal complement to WWScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. The bilinear form Template:Langle.,.Template:RangleScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". associated to QScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". induces a pairing between WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., which must be nondegenerate, because WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". are totally isotropic subspaces and QScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is nondegenerate. Hence WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". are dual vector spaces.

More concretely, let a1, ... amScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". be a basis for WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. Then there is a unique basis α1, ... αmScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". of WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". such that

αi,aj=δij.

If AScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is an m × mScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". matrix, then AScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". induces an endomorphism of WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". with respect to this basis and the transpose ATScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". induces a transformation of WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". with

Aw,w*=w,ATw*

for all wScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". in WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and wScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". in WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. It follows that the endomorphism ρAScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". of VScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., equal to AScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". on WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., ATScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". on WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and zero on UScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". (if nScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is odd), is skew,

ρAu,v=u,ρAv

for all u, vScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". in VScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., and hence (see classical group) an element of so(n, C) ⊂ End(V)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"..

Using the diagonal matrices in this construction defines a Cartan subalgebra hScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". of so(n, C)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".: the rank of so(n, C)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is mScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., and the diagonal n × nScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". matrices determine an mScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".-dimensional abelian subalgebra.

Let ε1, ... εmScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". be the basis of hScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". such that, for a diagonal matrix A, εk(ρA)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is the kScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".th diagonal entry of AScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. Clearly this is a basis for hScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. Since the bilinear form identifies so(n, C)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". with 2V, explicitly,

xyφxy,φxy(v)=y,vxx,vy,xy2V,x,y,vV,φxy𝔰𝔬(n,),[1]

it is now easy to construct the root system associated to hScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. The root spaces (simultaneous eigenspaces for the action of hScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".) are spanned by the following elements:

aiaj,ij, with root (simultaneous eigenvalue) εi+εj
aiαj (which is in hScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". if i = j)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". with root εiεj
αiαj,ij, with root εiεj,

and, if nScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is odd, and uScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is a nonzero element of UScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".,

aiu, with root εi
αiu, with root εi.

Thus, with respect to the basis ε1, ... εmScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., the roots are the vectors in hScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". that are permutations of

(±1,±1,0,0,,0)

together with the permutations of

(±1,0,0,,0)

if n = 2m + 1Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is odd.

A system of positive roots is given by εi + εj (ij), εiεj (i < j)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and (for nScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". odd) εiScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. The corresponding simple roots are

ε1ε2,ε2ε3,,εm1εm,{εm1+εmn=2mεmn=2m+1.

The positive roots are nonnegative integer linear combinations of the simple roots.

Spin representations and their weights

One construction of the spin representations of so(n, C)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". uses the exterior algebra(s)

S=W and/or S=W*.

There is an action of VScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". on SScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". such that for any element v = w + wScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". in WWScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and any ψScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". in SScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". the action is given by:

vψ=212(wψ+ι(w*)ψ),

where the second term is a contraction (interior multiplication) defined using the bilinear form, which pairs WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and WScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. This action respects the Clifford relations v2 = Q(v)1Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., and so induces a homomorphism from the Clifford algebra ClnCScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". of VScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". to End(S)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. A similar action can be defined on SScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., so that both SScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and SScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". are Clifford modules.

The Lie algebra so(n, C)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is isomorphic to the complexified Lie algebra spinnCScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". in ClnCScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". via the mapping induced by the covering Spin(n) → SO(n)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".[2]

vw14[v,w].

It follows that both SScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and SScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". are representations of so(n, C)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. They are actually equivalent representations, so we focus on S.

The explicit description shows that the elements αiaiScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". of the Cartan subalgebra hScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". act on SScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". by

(αiai)ψ=14(212)2(ι(αi)(aiψ)ai(ι(αi)ψ))=12ψai(ι(αi)ψ).

A basis for SScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is given by elements of the form

ai1ai2aik

for 0 ≤ kmScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and i1 < ... < ikScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. These clearly span weight spaces for the action of hScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".: αiaiScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". has eigenvalue −1/2 on the given basis vector if i = ijScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". for some jScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., and has eigenvalue 1/2Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". otherwise.

It follows that the weights of SScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". are all possible combinations of

(±12,±12,±12)

and each weight space is one-dimensional. Elements of SScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". are called Dirac spinors.

When nScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is even, SScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is not an irreducible representation: S+=evenW and S=oddW are invariant subspaces. The weights divide into those with an even number of minus signs, and those with an odd number of minus signs. Both S+ and S are irreducible representations of dimension 2m−1 whose elements are called Weyl spinors. They are also known as chiral spin representations or half-spin representations. With respect to the positive root system above, the highest weights of S+ and S are

(12,12,12,12) and (12,12,12,12)

respectively. The Clifford action identifies ClnC with End(S) and the even subalgebra is identified with the endomorphisms preserving S+ and S. The other Clifford module S′ is isomorphic to S in this case.

When n is odd, S is an irreducible representation of so(n,C) of dimension 2m: the Clifford action of a unit vector uU is given by

uψ={ψif ψevenWψif ψoddW

and so elements of so(n,C) of the form uw or uw do not preserve the even and odd parts of the exterior algebra of W. The highest weight of S is

(12,12,12).

The Clifford action is not faithful on S: ClnC can be identified with End(S) ⊕ End(S′), where u acts with the opposite sign on S′. More precisely, the two representations are related by the parity involution α of ClnC (also known as the principal automorphism), which is the identity on the even subalgebra, and minus the identity on the odd part of ClnC. In other words, there is a linear isomorphism from S to S′, which identifies the action of A in ClnC on S with the action of α(A) on S′.


Bilinear forms

if λ is a weight of S, so is −λ. It follows that S is isomorphic to the dual representation S.

When n = 2m + 1 is odd, the isomorphism B: SS is unique up to scale by Schur's lemma, since S is irreducible, and it defines a nondegenerate invariant bilinear form β on S via

β(φ,ψ)=B(φ)(ψ).

Here invariance means that

β(ξφ,ψ)+β(φ,ξψ)=0

for all ξ in so(n,C) and φ, ψ in S — in other words the action of ξ is skew with respect to β. In fact, more is true: S is a representation of the opposite Clifford algebra, and therefore, since ClnC only has two nontrivial simple modules S and S′, related by the parity involution α, there is an antiautomorphism τ of ClnC such that

β(Aφ,ψ)=β(φ,τ(A)ψ)(1)

for any A in ClnC. In fact τ is reversion (the antiautomorphism induced by the identity on V) for m even, and conjugation (the antiautomorphism induced by minus the identity on V) for m odd. These two antiautomorphisms are related by parity involution α, which is the automorphism induced by minus the identity on V. Both satisfy τ(ξ) = −ξ for ξ in so(n,C).

When n = 2m, the situation depends more sensitively upon the parity of m. For m even, a weight λ has an even number of minus signs if and only if −λ does; it follows that there are separate isomorphisms B±: S±S± of each half-spin representation with its dual, each determined uniquely up to scale. These may be combined into an isomorphism B: SS. For m odd, λ is a weight of S+ if and only if −λ is a weight of S; thus there is an isomorphism from S+ to S, again unique up to scale, and its transpose provides an isomorphism from S to S+. These may again be combined into an isomorphism B: SS.

For both m even and m odd, the freedom in the choice of B may be restricted to an overall scale by insisting that the bilinear form β corresponding to B satisfies (1), where τ is a fixed antiautomorphism (either reversion or conjugation).

Symmetry and the tensor square

The symmetry properties of β: SSC can be determined using Clifford algebras or representation theory. In fact much more can be said: the tensor square SS must decompose into a direct sum of k-forms on V for various k, because its weights are all elements in h whose components belong to {−1,0,1}. Now equivariant linear maps SS → ∧kV correspond bijectively to invariant maps ∧kVSSC and nonzero such maps can be constructed via the inclusion of ∧kV into the Clifford algebra. Furthermore, if β(φ,ψ) = ε β(ψ,φ) and τ has sign εk on ∧kV then

β(Aφ,ψ)=εεkβ(Aψ,φ)

for A in ∧kV.

If n = 2m+1 is odd then it follows from Schur's Lemma that

SSj=0m2jV*

(both sides have dimension 22m and the representations on the right are inequivalent). Because the symmetries are governed by an involution τ that is either conjugation or reversion, the symmetry of the ∧2jV component alternates with j. Elementary combinatorics gives

j=0m(1)jdim2j2m+1=(1)12m(m+1)2m=(1)12m(m+1)(dimS2Sdim2S)

and the sign determines which representations occur in S2S and which occur in ∧2S.[3] In particular

β(ϕ,ψ)=(1)12m(m+1)β(ψ,ϕ), and
β(vϕ,ψ)=(1)m(1)12m(m+1)β(vψ,ϕ)=(1)mβ(ϕ,vψ)

for vV (which is isomorphic to ∧2mV), confirming that τ is reversion for m even, and conjugation for m odd.

If n = 2m is even, then the analysis is more involved, but the result is a more refined decomposition: S2S±, ∧2S± and S+S can each be decomposed as a direct sum of k-forms (where for k = m there is a further decomposition into selfdual and antiselfdual m-forms).

The main outcome is a realisation of so(n,C) as a subalgebra of a classical Lie algebra on S, depending upon n modulo 8, according to the following table:

n mod 8 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Spinor algebra 𝔰𝔬(S+)𝔰𝔬(S) 𝔰𝔬(S) 𝔤𝔩(S±) 𝔰𝔭(S) 𝔰𝔭(S+)𝔰𝔭(S) 𝔰𝔭(S) 𝔤𝔩(S±) 𝔰𝔬(S)

For n ≤ 6, these embeddings are isomorphisms (onto sl rather than gl for n = 6):

𝔰𝔬(2,)𝔤𝔩(1,)(=)
𝔰𝔬(3,)𝔰𝔭(2,)(=𝔰𝔩(2,))
𝔰𝔬(4,)𝔰𝔭(2,)𝔰𝔭(2,)
𝔰𝔬(5,)𝔰𝔭(4,)
𝔰𝔬(6,)𝔰𝔩(4,).

Real representations

The complex spin representations of so(n,C) yield real representations S of so(p,q) by restricting the action to the real subalgebras. However, there are additional "reality" structures that are invariant under the action of the real Lie algebras. These come in three types.

  1. There is an invariant complex antilinear map r: SS with r2 = idS. The fixed point set of r is then a real vector subspace SR of S with SRC = S. This is called a real structure.
  2. There is an invariant complex antilinear map j: SS with j2 = −idS. It follows that the triple i, j and k:=ij make S into a quaternionic vector space SH. This is called a quaternionic structure.
  3. There is an invariant complex antilinear map b: SS that is invertible. This defines a pseudohermitian bilinear form on S and is called a hermitian structure.

The type of structure invariant under so(p,q) depends only on the signature pq modulo 8, and is given by the following table.

pq mod 8 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Structure R + R R C H H + H H C R

Here R, C and H denote real, hermitian and quaternionic structures respectively, and R + R and H + H indicate that the half-spin representations both admit real or quaternionic structures respectively.

Description and tables

To complete the description of real representation, we must describe how these structures interact with the invariant bilinear forms. Since n = p + qpq mod 2, there are two cases: the dimension and signature are both even, and the dimension and signature are both odd.

The odd case is simpler, there is only one complex spin representation S, and hermitian structures do not occur. Apart from the trivial case n = 1, S is always even-dimensional, say dim S = 2N. The real forms of so(2N,C) are so(K,L) with K + L = 2N and so(N,H), while the real forms of sp(2N,C) are sp(2N,R) and sp(K,L) with K + L = N. The presence of a Clifford action of V on S forces K = L in both cases unless pq = 0, in which case KL=0, which is denoted simply so(2N) or sp(N). Hence the odd spin representations may be summarized in the following table.

n mod 8 1, 7 3, 5
pq mod 8 so(2N,C) sp(2N,C)
1, 7 R so(N,N) or so(2N) sp(2N,R)
3, 5 H so(N,H) sp(N/2,N/2) or sp(N)

(†) NScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is even for n > 3Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and for n = 3Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., this is sp(1)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"..

The even-dimensional case is similar. For n > 2Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., the complex half-spin representations are even-dimensional. We have additionally to deal with hermitian structures and the real forms of sl(2N, C)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., which are sl(2N, R)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., su(K, L)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". with K + L = 2NScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., and sl(N, H)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. The resulting even spin representations are summarized as follows.

n mod 8 0 2, 6 4
p-q mod 8 so(2N,C)+so(2N,C) sl(2N,C) sp(2N,C)+sp(2N,C)
0 R+R so(N,N)+so(N,N) sl(2N,R) sp(2N,R)+sp(2N,R)
2, 6 C so(2N,C) su(N,N) sp(2N,C)
4 H+H so(N,H)+so(N,H) sl(N,H) sp(N/2,N/2)+sp(N/2,N/2)

(*) For pq = 0Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., we have instead so(2N) + so(2N)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

(†) NScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". is even for n > 4Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and for pq = 0Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". (which includes n = 4Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". with N = 1Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".), we have instead sp(N) + sp(N)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

The low-dimensional isomorphisms in the complex case have the following real forms.

Euclidean signature Minkowskian signature Other signatures
𝔰𝔬(2)𝔲(1) 𝔰𝔬(1,1)
𝔰𝔬(3)𝔰𝔭(1) 𝔰𝔬(2,1)𝔰𝔩(2,)
𝔰𝔬(4)𝔰𝔭(1)𝔰𝔭(1) 𝔰𝔬(3,1)𝔰𝔩(2,) 𝔰𝔬(2,2)𝔰𝔩(2,)𝔰𝔩(2,)
𝔰𝔬(5)𝔰𝔭(2) 𝔰𝔬(4,1)𝔰𝔭(1,1) 𝔰𝔬(3,2)𝔰𝔭(4,)
𝔰𝔬(6)𝔰𝔲(4) 𝔰𝔬(5,1)𝔰𝔩(2,) 𝔰𝔬(4,2)𝔰𝔲(2,2) 𝔰𝔬(3,3)𝔰𝔩(4,)

The only special isomorphisms of real Lie algebras missing from this table are 𝔰𝔬*(3,)𝔰𝔲(3,1) and 𝔰𝔬*(4,)𝔰𝔬(6,2).

Notes

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  1. Script error: No such module "Footnotes". Chapter I.6, p.41. If we follow the convention of Script error: No such module "Footnotes". Chapter 20, p.303, then a factor 2 appears and the following formulas have to be changed accordingly
  2. since if α:q(vq.v.q1) is the covering, then dα:q(vq.vv.q), so dα(v.w)=2φvw and since v.w+w.v is a scalar, we get dα(1/4[v,w])=φvw
  3. This sign can also be determined from the observation that if φ is a highest weight vector for S then φφ is a highest weight vector for ∧mV ≅ ∧m+1V, so this summand must occur in S2S.

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References

  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1"..
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  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".. See also the programme website for a preliminary version.
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  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1"..
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  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1"..