Explaining Conformal Killing Spinors

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In summary, the conversation is about conformal killing spinors, which are sections of the spinor bundle of a spin manifold that satisfy certain equations involving the spinor covariant derivative and dirac matrices. There are two different equations that have been used to define them, one involving a constant lambda and the other involving a scalar curvature and another constant c. It is unclear which equation is correct and which one corresponds to the killing spinor. The conversation also touches on the geometric interpretation of these equations and their connection to Penrose's twistor spinors. The context for discussing these spinors is working on supersymmetry.
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This could have gone in about 4 different forums, so I apologize if I picked the wrong one. I'm wondering if anyone can explain what (conformal) killing spinors are all about. All I can find is that they are sections of the spinor bundle of a spin manifold satisfying:

[tex] \nabla_\mu \epsilon = \lambda \gamma_\mu \epsilon [/tex]

where [itex]\nabla_\mu[/itex] is the spinor covariant derivative, [itex]\gamma_\mu[/itex] are the dirac matrices, and [itex]\lambda[/itex] is a constant. I've also seen something like this pair of equations used to define them:

[tex] \nabla_\mu \epsilon = \gamma_\mu \epsilon' [/tex]

[tex] \nabla_\mu \epsilon' = c R \gamma_\mu \epsilon [/tex]

where R is the scalar curvature and c is some specific constant, possibly depending on dimension, that I can't remember right now.

First of all, which equation is correct, and in the case of the second, which is the killing spinor? Second, how should I think about these geometrically? Where do these equations come from? I've come across these working on supersymmetry, and I'd like to know why they are important there. If anyone could try to explain some of this, or point me to some good sources, I'd really appreciate it.
 
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Anyone? I'm still lost. I'm also aware there's a connection with Penrose's twistor spinors, so maybe someone could explain something about this.
 

1. What are conformal Killing spinors?

Conformal Killing spinors are objects in differential geometry that are used to study symmetries of curved spaces. They are spinor fields on a manifold that satisfy a certain differential equation, and they play an important role in various areas of mathematics and physics, such as general relativity and supergravity.

2. What is the significance of conformal Killing spinors?

Conformal Killing spinors are important because they correspond to conformal symmetries of a given space. This means that they describe transformations that preserve the angles between curves on the manifold, but not necessarily their lengths. These symmetries are useful in understanding the geometry and topology of a space, and can also be used to solve certain equations and equations of motion.

3. How are conformal Killing spinors related to Killing vectors?

Conformal Killing spinors are closely related to Killing vectors, which are vector fields on a manifold that satisfy a similar differential equation. In fact, conformal Killing spinors can be thought of as spinor counterparts of Killing vectors, and they arise naturally in the study of supersymmetric field theories and supergravity.

4. Can conformal Killing spinors be used to classify spaces?

Yes, conformal Killing spinors can be used to classify spaces with specific symmetries. For example, a space that admits a conformal Killing spinor is called a conformally Einstein space, and this property can be used to classify four-dimensional Lorentzian manifolds. This classification has important implications in general relativity and cosmology.

5. Are there any applications of conformal Killing spinors outside of mathematics?

Yes, conformal Killing spinors have important applications in physics, particularly in the study of supersymmetric field theories and supergravity. They also play a role in string theory and the AdS/CFT correspondence, which relates theories in different dimensions and with different symmetries. In addition, conformal Killing spinors have been used in mathematical physics to study black holes and other gravitational phenomena.

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