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Dirac–Kähler Equation
In theoretical physics, the Dirac–Kähler equation, also known as the Ivanenko–Landau–Kähler equation, is the geometric analogue of the Dirac equation that can be defined on any pseudo-Riemannian manifold using the Laplace–de Rham operator. In four-dimensional flat spacetime, it is equivalent to four copies of the Dirac equation that transform into each other under Lorentz transformations, although this is no longer true in curved spacetime. The geometric structure gives the equation a natural discretization that is equivalent to the staggered fermion formalism in lattice field theory, making Dirac–Kähler fermions the formal continuum limit of staggered fermions. The equation was discovered by Dmitri Ivanenko and Lev Landau in 1928 and later rediscovered by Erich Kähler in 1962. Mathematical overview In four dimensional Euclidean spacetime a generic fields of differential forms : \Phi = \sum_ \Phi_H(x)dx_H, is written as a linear combination of sixteen basis for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theoretical Physics
Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experimental tools to probe these phenomena. The advancement of science generally depends on the interplay between experimental studies and theory. In some cases, theoretical physics adheres to standards of mathematical rigour while giving little weight to experiments and observations.There is some debate as to whether or not theoretical physics uses mathematics to build intuition and illustrativeness to extract physical insight (especially when normal experience fails), rather than as a tool in formalizing theories. This links to the question of it using mathematics in a less formally rigorous, and more intuitive or heuristic way than, say, mathematical physics. For example, while developing special relativity, Albert Einstein was concerned wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Differential Form
In mathematics, differential forms provide a unified approach to define integrands over curves, surfaces, solids, and higher-dimensional manifolds. The modern notion of differential forms was pioneered by Élie Cartan. It has many applications, especially in geometry, topology and physics. For instance, the expression is an example of a -form, and can be integrated over an interval contained in the domain of : :\int_a^b f(x)\,dx. Similarly, the expression is a -form that can be integrated over a surface : :\int_S (f(x,y,z)\,dx\wedge dy + g(x,y,z)\,dz\wedge dx + h(x,y,z)\,dy\wedge dz). The symbol denotes the exterior product, sometimes called the ''wedge product'', of two differential forms. Likewise, a -form represents a volume element that can be integrated over a region of space. In general, a -form is an object that may be integrated over a -dimensional manifold, and is homogeneous of degree in the coordinate differentials dx, dy, \ldots. On an -dimensional manifold, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minimal Coupling
In analytical mechanics and quantum field theory, minimal coupling refers to a coupling between field theory (physics), fields which involves only the electric charge, charge distribution and not higher multipole moments of the charge distribution. This minimal coupling is in contrast to, for example, Pauli equation, Pauli coupling, which includes the magnetic moment of an electron directly in the Lagrangian mechanics, Lagrangian. Electrodynamics In electrodynamics, minimal coupling is adequate to account for all electromagnetic interactions. Higher moments of particles are consequences of minimal coupling and non-zero spin (physics), spin. Non-relativistic charged particle in an electromagnetic field In Cartesian coordinates, the Lagrangian mechanics#Electromagnetism, Lagrangian of a non-relativistic classical particle in an electromagnetic field is (in SI Units): : \mathcal = \sum_i \tfrac m \dot_i^2 + \sum_i q \dot_i A_i - q \varphi where is the electric charge of the part ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dirac Algebra
In mathematical physics, the Dirac algebra is the Clifford algebra \text_(\mathbb). This was introduced by the mathematical physicist P. A. M. Dirac in 1928 in developing the Dirac equation for spin-½ particles with a matrix representation of the gamma matrices, which represent the generators of the algebra. The gamma matrices are a set of four 4\times 4 matrices \ = \ with entries in \mathbb, that is, elements of \text_(\mathbb), satisfying :\displaystyle\ = \gamma^\mu \gamma^\nu + \gamma^\nu \gamma^\mu = 2 \eta^, where by convention, an identity matrix has been suppressed on the right-hand side. The numbers \eta^ \, are the components of the Minkowski metric. For this article we fix the signature to be ''mostly minus'', that is, (+,-,-,-). The Dirac algebra is then the linear span of the identity, the gamma matrices \gamma^\mu as well as any linearly independent products of the gamma matrices. This forms a finite-dimensional algebra over the field \mathbb or \mathbb, with d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gamma Matrices
In mathematical physics, the gamma matrices, \left\ , also called the Dirac matrices, are a set of conventional matrices with specific anticommutation relations that ensure they generate a matrix representation of the Clifford algebra Cl1,3(\mathbb). It is also possible to define higher-dimensional gamma matrices. When interpreted as the matrices of the action of a set of orthogonal basis vectors for contravariant vectors in Minkowski space, the column vectors on which the matrices act become a space of spinors, on which the Clifford algebra of spacetime acts. This in turn makes it possible to represent infinitesimal spatial rotations and Lorentz boosts. Spinors facilitate spacetime computations in general, and in particular are fundamental to the Dirac equation for relativistic spin- particles. In Dirac representation, the four contravariant gamma matrices are :\begin \gamma^0 &= \begin 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & -1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & -1 \en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irreducible Representation
In mathematics, specifically in the representation theory of groups and algebras, an irreducible representation (\rho, V) or irrep of an algebraic structure A is a nonzero representation that has no proper nontrivial subrepresentation (\rho, _W,W), with W \subset V closed under the action of \. Every finite-dimensional unitary representation on a Hilbert space V is the direct sum of irreducible representations. Irreducible representations are always indecomposable (i.e. cannot be decomposed further into a direct sum of representations), but converse may not hold, e.g. the two-dimensional representation of the real numbers acting by upper triangular unipotent matrices is indecomposable but reducible. History Group representation theory was generalized by Richard Brauer from the 1940s to give modular representation theory, in which the matrix operators act on a vector space over a field K of arbitrary characteristic, rather than a vector space over the field of real numbers or o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dirac Spinor
In quantum field theory, the Dirac spinor is the spinor that describes all known fundamental particles that are fermions, with the possible exception of neutrinos. It appears in the plane-wave solution to the Dirac equation, and is a certain combination of two Weyl spinors, specifically, a bispinor that transforms "spinorially" under the action of the Lorentz group. Dirac spinors are important and interesting in numerous ways. Foremost, they are important as they do describe all of the known fundamental particle fermions in nature; this includes the electron and the quarks. Algebraically they behave, in a certain sense, as the "square root" of a vector. This is not readily apparent from direct examination, but it has slowly become clear over the last 60 years that spinorial representations are fundamental to geometry. For example, effectively all Riemannian manifolds can have spinors and spin connections built upon them, via the Clifford algebra. The Dirac spinor is specific to that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clifford Algebra
In mathematics, a Clifford algebra is an algebra generated by a vector space with a quadratic form, and is a unital associative algebra. As -algebras, they generalize the real numbers, complex numbers, quaternions and several other hypercomplex number systems. The theory of Clifford algebras is intimately connected with the theory of quadratic forms and orthogonal transformations. Clifford algebras have important applications in a variety of fields including geometry, theoretical physics and digital image processing. They are named after the English mathematician William Kingdon Clifford. The most familiar Clifford algebras, the orthogonal Clifford algebras, are also referred to as (''pseudo-'')''Riemannian Clifford algebras'', as distinct from ''symplectic Clifford algebras''.see for ex. Introduction and basic properties A Clifford algebra is a unital associative algebra that contains and is generated by a vector space over a field , where is equipped with a qua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exterior Algebra
In mathematics, the exterior algebra, or Grassmann algebra, named after Hermann Grassmann, is an algebra that uses the exterior product or wedge product as its multiplication. In mathematics, the exterior product or wedge product of vectors is an algebraic construction used in geometry to study areas, volumes, and their higher-dimensional analogues. The exterior product of two vectors u and v, denoted by u \wedge v, is called a bivector and lives in a space called the ''exterior square'', a vector space that is distinct from the original space of vectors. The magnitude of u \wedge v can be interpreted as the area of the parallelogram with sides u and v, which in three dimensions can also be computed using the cross product of the two vectors. More generally, all parallel plane surfaces with the same orientation and area have the same bivector as a measure of their oriented area. Like the cross product, the exterior product is anticommutative, meaning t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laplacian Operator
In mathematics, the Laplace operator or Laplacian is a differential operator given by the divergence of the gradient of a scalar function on Euclidean space. It is usually denoted by the symbols \nabla\cdot\nabla, \nabla^2 (where \nabla is the nabla operator), or \Delta. In a Cartesian coordinate system, the Laplacian is given by the sum of second partial derivatives of the function with respect to each independent variable. In other coordinate systems, such as cylindrical and spherical coordinates, the Laplacian also has a useful form. Informally, the Laplacian of a function at a point measures by how much the average value of over small spheres or balls centered at deviates from . The Laplace operator is named after the French mathematician Pierre-Simon de Laplace (1749–1827), who first applied the operator to the study of celestial mechanics: the Laplacian of the gravitational potential due to a given mass density distribution is a constant multiple of that density ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Codifferential
In mathematics, the Hodge star operator or Hodge star is a linear map defined on the exterior algebra of a finite-dimensional oriented vector space endowed with a nondegenerate symmetric bilinear form. Applying the operator to an element of the algebra produces the Hodge dual of the element. This map was introduced by W. V. D. Hodge. For example, in an oriented 3-dimensional Euclidean space, an oriented plane can be represented by the exterior product of two basis vectors, and its Hodge dual is the normal vector given by their cross product; conversely, any vector is dual to the oriented plane perpendicular to it, endowed with a suitable bivector. Generalizing this to an -dimensional vector space, the Hodge star is a one-to-one mapping of -vectors to -vectors; the dimensions of these spaces are the binomial coefficients \tbinom nk = \tbinom. The naturalness of the star operator means it can play a role in differential geometry, when applied to the cotangent bundle of a pseudo-R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exterior Derivative
On a differentiable manifold, the exterior derivative extends the concept of the differential of a function to differential forms of higher degree. The exterior derivative was first described in its current form by Élie Cartan in 1899. The resulting calculus, known as exterior calculus, allows for a natural, metric-independent generalization of Stokes' theorem, Gauss's theorem, and Green's theorem from vector calculus. If a differential -form is thought of as measuring the flux through an infinitesimal - parallelotope at each point of the manifold, then its exterior derivative can be thought of as measuring the net flux through the boundary of a -parallelotope at each point. Definition The exterior derivative of a differential form of degree (also differential -form, or just -form for brevity here) is a differential form of degree . If is a smooth function (a -form), then the exterior derivative of is the differential of . That is, is the unique -form such that for e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
