# Spinor transformations

• A

## Main Question or Discussion Point

I am trying to understand the derivation of the Dirac adjoint. I understand the derivation of the following identities involving Spinors, the Gamma matrices and Lorentz transformations:

(Sμν) = γ0Sμνγ0

s[Λ] = exp(ΩμνSμν/2)

s[Λ] = exp(Ωμν(Sμν/2))

The part I'm having trouble with is showing that the last line is also equal to:

γ0S[Λ]-1γ0

Its probably simple but I'm having a mental block with it. Appreciate any help to get me going again.

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haushofer
You should also dagger the Omega; it can be complex in general. Without doing the calculation myself, it seems you need the Clifford algebra and give an expression for the inverse of S. But this should be in any decent qft book, like Peskin.

Well, $(\gamma^0)^2 = 1$, so for any $n$, $(\gamma^0 S_{\mu\nu}\gamma^0)^n = \gamma^0 (S_{\mu\nu})^n \gamma^0$. Using this and the series expression $\exp x = \sum \frac{x^n}{n!}$ should make this clear. But it is not clear to me how this works for general, complex $\Omega$ as haushofer said...

OK. So just to verify (neglecting indeces):

γ0(1 + iΩS)γ0

multiplying from left and right gives:

γ0γ0 - iΩγ0Sγ0

= exp(-iΩγ0Sγ0)

correct.

Thats what I think (last equal of course up to order $\Omega^2$).