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Spin(3,1)
In mathematics the spin group, denoted Spin(''n''), page 15 is a Lie group whose underlying manifold is the double cover of the special orthogonal group , such that there exists a short exact sequence of Lie groups (when ) :1 \to \mathbb_2 \to \operatorname(n) \to \operatorname(n) \to 1. The group multiplication law on the double cover is given by lifting the multiplication on \operatorname(n). As a Lie group, Spin(''n'') therefore shares its dimension, , and its Lie algebra with the special orthogonal group. For , Spin(''n'') is simply connected and so coincides with the universal cover of SO(''n''). The non-trivial element of the kernel is denoted −1, which should not be confused with the orthogonal transform of reflection through the origin, generally denoted −. Spin(''n'') can be constructed as a subgroup of the invertible elements in the Clifford algebra Cl(''n''). A distinct article discusses the spin representations. Motivation and physical interpretation T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics with the major subdisciplines of number theory, algebra, geometry, and analysis, respectively. There is no general consensus among mathematicians about a common definition for their academic discipline. Most mathematical activity involves the discovery of properties of abstract objects and the use of pure reason to prove them. These objects consist of either abstractions from nature orin modern mathematicsentities that are stipulated to have certain properties, called axioms. A ''proof'' consists of a succession of applications of deductive rules to already established results. These results include previously proved theorems, axioms, andin case of abstraction from naturesome basic properties that are considered true starting poin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which relates to the order of nature, or, in other words, to the regular succession of events." Physics is one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines, with its main goal being to understand how the universe behaves. "Physics is one of the most fundamental of the sciences. Scientists of all disciplines use the ideas of physics, including chemists who study the structure of molecules, paleontologists who try to reconstruct how dinosaurs walked, and climatologists who study how human activities affect the atmosphere and oceans. Physics is also the foundation of all engineering and technology. No engineer could design a flat-screen TV, an interplanetary spacecraft, or even a better mousetrap without first understanding the basic laws of physics ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quantum Gravity
Quantum gravity (QG) is a field of theoretical physics that seeks to describe gravity according to the principles of quantum mechanics; it deals with environments in which neither gravitational nor quantum effects can be ignored, such as in the vicinity of black holes or similar compact astrophysical objects, such as neutron stars. Three of the four fundamental forces of physics are described within the framework of quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. The current understanding of the fourth force, gravity, is based on Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which is formulated within the entirely different framework of classical physics. However, that description is incomplete: describing the gravitational field of a black hole in the general theory of relativity leads physical quantities, such as the spacetime curvature, to diverge at the center of the black hole. This signals the breakdown of the general theory of relativity and the need for a theory that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tetrad (general Relativity)
A frame field in general relativity (also called a tetrad or vierbein) is a set of four pointwise-orthonormal vector fields, one timelike and three spacelike, defined on a Lorentzian manifold that is physically interpreted as a model of spacetime. The timelike unit vector field is often denoted by \vec_0 and the three spacelike unit vector fields by \vec_1, \vec_2, \, \vec_3. All tensorial quantities defined on the manifold can be expressed using the frame field and its dual coframe field. Frame were introduced into general relativity by Albert Einstein in 1928 and by Hermann Weyl in 1929.Hermann Weyl "Elektron und Gravitation I", ''Zeitschrift Physik'', 56, p330–352, 1929. The index notation for tetrads is explained in tetrad (index notation). Physical interpretation Frame fields of a Lorentzian manifold always correspond to a family of ideal observers immersed in the given spacetime; the integral curves of the timelike unit vector field are the worldlines of these observ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dirac Equation In Curved Spacetime
In mathematical physics, the Dirac equation in curved spacetime is a generalization of the Dirac equation from flat spacetime (Minkowski space) to curved spacetime, a general Lorentzian manifold. Mathematical formulation Spacetime In full generality the equation can be defined on M or (M,\mathbf) a pseudo-Riemannian manifold, but for concreteness we restrict to pseudo-Riemannian manifold with signature (- + + +). The metric is referred to as \mathbf, or g_ in abstract index notation. Frame fields We use a set of vierbein or frame fields \ = \, which are a set of vector fields (which are not necessarily defined globally on M). Their defining equation is :g_e_\mu^a e_\nu^b = \eta_. The vierbein defines a local rest frame, allowing the constant Gamma matrices to act at each spacetime point. In differential-geometric language, the vierbein is equivalent to a section of the frame bundle, and so defines a local trivialization of the frame bundle. Spin connection To wr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dirac Equation
In particle physics, the Dirac equation is a relativistic wave equation derived by British physicist Paul Dirac in 1928. In its free form, or including electromagnetic interactions, it describes all spin- massive particles, called "Dirac particles", such as electrons and quarks for which parity is a symmetry. It is consistent with both the principles of quantum mechanics and the theory of special relativity, and was the first theory to account fully for special relativity in the context of quantum mechanics. It was validated by accounting for the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum in a completely rigorous way. The equation also implied the existence of a new form of matter, ''antimatter'', previously unsuspected and unobserved and which was experimentally confirmed several years later. It also provided a ''theoretical'' justification for the introduction of several component wave functions in Pauli's phenomenological theory of spin. The wave functions in the Dirac t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Relativity
General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of gravitation in modern physics. General relativity generalizes special relativity and refines Newton's law of universal gravitation, providing a unified description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time or four-dimensional spacetime. In particular, the ' is directly related to the energy and momentum of whatever matter and radiation are present. The relation is specified by the Einstein field equations, a system of second order partial differential equations. Newton's law of universal gravitation, which describes classical gravity, can be seen as a prediction of general relativity for the almost flat spacetime geometry around stationary mass distributions. Some predictions of general relativity, however, are beyond Newton's law of universal gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spin Connection
In differential geometry and mathematical physics, a spin connection is a connection on a spinor bundle. It is induced, in a canonical manner, from the affine connection. It can also be regarded as the gauge field generated by local Lorentz transformations. In some canonical formulations of general relativity, a spin connection is defined on spatial slices and can also be regarded as the gauge field generated by local rotations. The spin connection occurs in two common forms: the ''Levi-Civita spin connection'', when it is derived from the Levi-Civita connection, and the ''affine spin connection'', when it is obtained from the affine connection. The difference between the two of these is that the Levi-Civita connection is by definition the unique torsion-free connection, whereas the affine connection (and so the affine spin connection) may contain torsion. Definition Let e_\mu^ be the local Lorentz frame fields or vierbein (also known as a tetrad), which is a set of ortho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Affine Connection
In differential geometry, an affine connection is a geometric object on a smooth manifold which ''connects'' nearby tangent spaces, so it permits tangent vector fields to be differentiated as if they were functions on the manifold with values in a fixed vector space. Connections are among the simplest methods of defining differentiation of the sections of vector bundles. The notion of an affine connection has its roots in 19th-century geometry and tensor calculus, but was not fully developed until the early 1920s, by Élie Cartan (as part of his general theory of connections) and Hermann Weyl (who used the notion as a part of his foundations for general relativity). The terminology is due to Cartan and has its origins in the identification of tangent spaces in Euclidean space by translation: the idea is that a choice of affine connection makes a manifold look infinitesimally like Euclidean space not just smoothly, but as an affine space. On any manifold of positive dimension ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spinor Bundle
In differential geometry, given a spin structure on an n-dimensional orientable Riemannian manifold (M, g),\, one defines the spinor bundle to be the complex vector bundle \pi_\colon\to M\, associated to the corresponding principal bundle \pi_\colon\to M\, of spin frames over M and the spin representation of its structure group (n)\, on the space of spinors \Delta_n.. A section of the spinor bundle \, is called a spinor field. Formal definition Let (,F_) be a spin structure on a Riemannian manifold (M, g),\,that is, an equivariant lift of the oriented orthonormal frame bundle \mathrm F_(M)\to M with respect to the double covering \rho\colon (n)\to (n) of the special orthogonal group by the spin group. The spinor bundle \, is defined to be the complex vector bundle =\times_\Delta_n\, associated to the spin structure via the spin representation \kappa\colon (n)\to (\Delta_n),\, where ()\, denotes the group of unitary operators acting on a Hilbert space .\, It is worth notin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Structure Group
In mathematics, and particularly topology, a fiber bundle (or, in Commonwealth English: fibre bundle) is a space that is a product space, but may have a different topological structure. Specifically, the similarity between a space E and a product space B \times F is defined using a continuous surjective map, \pi : E \to B, that in small regions of E behaves just like a projection from corresponding regions of B \times F to B. The map \pi, called the projection or submersion of the bundle, is regarded as part of the structure of the bundle. The space E is known as the total space of the fiber bundle, B as the base space, and F the fiber. In the ''trivial'' case, E is just B \times F, and the map \pi is just the projection from the product space to the first factor. This is called a trivial bundle. Examples of non-trivial fiber bundles include the Möbius strip and Klein bottle, as well as nontrivial covering spaces. Fiber bundles, such as the tangent bundle of a ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riemannian Manifold
In differential geometry, a Riemannian manifold or Riemannian space , so called after the German mathematician Bernhard Riemann, is a real, smooth manifold ''M'' equipped with a positive-definite inner product ''g''''p'' on the tangent space ''T''''p''''M'' at each point ''p''. The family ''g''''p'' of inner products is called a Riemannian metric (or Riemannian metric tensor). Riemannian geometry is the study of Riemannian manifolds. A common convention is to take ''g'' to be smooth, which means that for any smooth coordinate chart on ''M'', the ''n''2 functions :g\left(\frac,\frac\right):U\to\mathbb are smooth functions. These functions are commonly designated as g_. With further restrictions on the g_, one could also consider Lipschitz Riemannian metrics or measurable Riemannian metrics, among many other possibilities. A Riemannian metric (tensor) makes it possible to define several geometric notions on a Riemannian manifold, such as angle at an intersection, le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
