Fundamental and contravariant representations

gentsagree
Messages
93
Reaction score
1
The invariant of SL(2,C) is proven to be invariant under the action of the group by the following

\epsilon'_{\alpha\beta} = N_{\alpha}^{\rho}N_{\beta}^{\sigma}\epsilon_{\rho\sigma}=\epsilon_{\alpha\beta}detN=\epsilon_{\alpha\beta}

The existence of an invariant of this form (with two indices down) tells us that the covariant (here fundamental of SL(2,C)) and contra variant reps aren't independent. This seems to me to follow directly from the fact that detN=1. Is this true? And can anyone bring forward an example where covariant and contra variant reps are truly independent?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
gentsagree said:
The invariant of SL(2,C) is proven to be invariant under the action of the group by the following

\epsilon'_{\alpha\beta} = N_{\alpha}^{\rho}N_{\beta}^{\sigma}\epsilon_{\rho\sigma}=\epsilon_{\alpha\beta}detN=\epsilon_{\alpha\beta}

The existence of an invariant of this form (with two indices down) tells us that the covariant (here fundamental of SL(2,C)) and contra variant reps aren't independent. This seems to me to follow directly from the fact that detN=1. Is this true?
Yes, covariant and contravariant spinor representations are EQUIVALENT, i.e. they belong to the same representation space of SL(2,C).
And can anyone bring forward an example where covariant and contra variant reps are truly independent?
In SL(2,C), lowering or raising the indices by the spinor metric \epsilon_{ \alpha \beta } and \epsilon^{ \alpha \beta } does not produce new representation. However, complex conjugation does lead to new inequivalent representation \psi^{ \dot{ \alpha } } = \epsilon^{ \dot{ \alpha } \dot{ \beta } } \psi_{ \dot{ \beta } }.
 
Why do you reply to posts if you don't read the questions properly first?

1. I know they are EQUIVALENT. I am asking whether this is a direct consequence of the fact that detN=1, i.e. if I could generalise this, for instance, by saying that "every algebra with detN=1 possesses a 2nd rank invariant tensor", or perhaps not, I am missing something.

2. Again, here I ask whether anybody can bring forward an example where covariant and contravariant representations are truly independent of each other, not whether the conjugate representation is.
 
gentsagree said:
Why do you reply to posts if you don't read the questions properly first?

1. I know they are EQUIVALENT. I am asking whether this is a direct consequence of the fact that detN=1, i.e. if I could generalise this, for instance, by saying that "every algebra with detN=1 possesses a 2nd rank invariant tensor", or perhaps not, I am missing something.

2. Again, here I ask whether anybody can bring forward an example where covariant and contravariant representations are truly independent of each other, not whether the conjugate representation is.
Instead of asking MEANINGLESS questions and being RUDE to the person who is trying to help you, you should spend your time learning the ABC of group theory.
 
  • Like
Likes ChrisVer
Toponium is a hadron which is the bound state of a valance top quark and a valance antitop quark. Oversimplified presentations often state that top quarks don't form hadrons, because they decay to bottom quarks extremely rapidly after they are created, leaving no time to form a hadron. And, the vast majority of the time, this is true. But, the lifetime of a top quark is only an average lifetime. Sometimes it decays faster and sometimes it decays slower. In the highly improbable case that...
I'm following this paper by Kitaev on SL(2,R) representations and I'm having a problem in the normalization of the continuous eigenfunctions (eqs. (67)-(70)), which satisfy \langle f_s | f_{s'} \rangle = \int_{0}^{1} \frac{2}{(1-u)^2} f_s(u)^* f_{s'}(u) \, du. \tag{67} The singular contribution of the integral arises at the endpoint u=1 of the integral, and in the limit u \to 1, the function f_s(u) takes on the form f_s(u) \approx a_s (1-u)^{1/2 + i s} + a_s^* (1-u)^{1/2 - i s}. \tag{70}...
Back
Top