Lie Algebra in Particle Physics simplified

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
2 replies · 2K views
Silviu
Messages
612
Reaction score
11
Hello! Is there any rule to do sums and products like the one in the attached picture (Lie.png) without going through all the math theory behind? I understand the first (product) and last (sum) terms, but I am not sure I understand how you go from one to another.
Thank you!
 

Attachments

  • Lie.png
    Lie.png
    1.8 KB · Views: 601
Physics news on Phys.org
especially with SU(2)'s you can just add spins...
2= spin 1/2
3= spin 1
etc
and then seeing the multiplicity of the final spins

Eg your example has 3 spin 1/2 particles, so you'd get something like:
(1/2 1/2) 1/2 = ( 1 0 ) 1/2 = (1 1/2) (0 1/2) = 3/2 1/2 1/2
so a 4 2 2