- #1
Demon117
- 165
- 1
Ok. I understand that the set of Lorentz boosts and space rotations is equivalent to the set of Lorentz transformations. I understand that they form a group, but what I cannot seem to grasp is this. What the explicit form of such 4x4 matrices? One needs to know this in order to show that the properties of a group hold. The way I thought they were represented is as follows:
[itex]L_{x}[\beta]=\left(\begin{array}{cccc} \gamma & -\beta \gamma & 0 & 0 \\-\beta \gamma & \gamma & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \end{array}\right)[/itex]
The Lorentz boosts in the y and z directions would have similar elements in different entries of the matrix. Is this all I have to work with to show that the Lorentz transformations form a group?
[itex]L_{x}[\beta]=\left(\begin{array}{cccc} \gamma & -\beta \gamma & 0 & 0 \\-\beta \gamma & \gamma & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \end{array}\right)[/itex]
The Lorentz boosts in the y and z directions would have similar elements in different entries of the matrix. Is this all I have to work with to show that the Lorentz transformations form a group?