Proving the Isomorphism Property of the Spinor Map in SL(2,C) and SO(3,1)

  • Level: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter gentsagree
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Group
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
2 replies · 1K views
gentsagree
Messages
93
Reaction score
1
In the context of the homomorphism between SL(2,C) and SO(3,1), I have that

[tex]\textbf{x}=\overline{\sigma}_{\mu}x^{\mu}[/tex]

[tex]x^{\mu}=\frac{1}{2}tr(\sigma^{\mu}\textbf{x})[/tex]

give the explicit form of the isomorphism, where [itex]\textbf{x}[/itex] is a 2x2 matrix of SL(2,C) and [itex]x^{\mu}[/itex] a 4-vector of SO(3,1).

Considering the linear map (the spinor map)

[tex]\textbf{x}\rightarrow\textbf{x}'=A\textbf{x}A^{\dagger}[/tex]

one can show that the 4-vectors on the SO(3,1) side are also linearly related by

[tex]x'^{\mu}=\phi(A)^{\mu}_{\nu}x^{\nu}[/tex]

where it is easy to show that

[tex]\phi(A)^{\mu}_{\nu}=\frac{1}{2}tr(\sigma^{\mu}A\overline{\sigma}_{\nu}A^{\dagger})[/tex]

I understand all this, but I want to prove that [itex]\phi(AB)=\phi(A)\phi(B)[/itex]. How would I go about doing this? I tried a few things but not very successfully.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
I can't copy paste the proof here, I can only tell you where to find it: Mueller-Kirsten + Wiedemann's <Supersymmetry> (WS, 1987), pages 66 and 67.
 
Thanks a lot dextercioby, the book is really helpful!