What Are the Subalgebras of Biquaternions?

  • Thread starter Thread starter EinsteinKreuz
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Friends Quaternions
EinsteinKreuz
Messages
64
Reaction score
1
So upon reading the wikipedia entry about the biquaternions I noticed that this algebra has several interesting subalgebras:

1. The split-complex numbers of the form {σ = x+y(hi)| ∀(x,y)∈ ℝ} which have the norm σ⋅σ* = (x2-y2).

2. The tessarines which can be written as {α + βj | ∀(α,β,)∈ℂ1 & j2 = -1}

3. The coquaternions whose bases form the dihedral group D4 and are define as the Span{1, i, (hj), (hk)}

But there is a 4th subalgebra that is somewhat similar to the coquaternions. And its elements can be defined as {g = a + bi + ch + dhi | (a,b,c,d)∈ℝ}. Now of course i2 = h2 = -1 and hi2 =
h2i2 = (-1)2 = +1.

But since I'm not sure how to add a grid for the Cayley table I'll also wrote down the other relational equations:

h⋅i = +(hi)
i⋅h = -(hi)
(hi)⋅i = -h
i⋅(hi) = +h
h
⋅(hi) = -i
(hi)⋅i = +i

Using these rules it can be shown that { g | g ∈ Span[1,i,h,(hi)]} is closed under products and if we define g* = a - bi - ch - dhi, then g⋅g* = a2+b2+c2-d2 = -ds2 where ds2 is the Minkowski metric.

So does this subalgebra have an official name and could it's elements be used as operators to describe the Lorentz transformation?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
EinsteinKreuz said:
h⋅i = +(hi)
i⋅h = -(hi)
(hi)⋅i = -h
i⋅(hi) = +h
h
⋅(hi) = -i
(hi)⋅i = +i
A question, as I'm not familiar with Biquaternions:
How did you get i⋅h = -(hi)?
 
Samy_A said:
A question, as I'm not familiar with Biquaternions:
How did you get i⋅h = -(hi)?
Ahhhh...good point! The article states that h⋅i = i⋅h.
Now after tinkering with my original rule I realize that if the product of h with i,j, or k is associative(like the quaternions) then i⋅h = -(hi) → (hi)2 = -1.
So to generate an algebra where i⋅h = -(hi) & (hi)2 = h2i2 = +1, then the product of h with i,j, or k must be non-associative.
 
Last edited:
I asked online questions about Proposition 2.1.1: The answer I got is the following: I have some questions about the answer I got. When the person answering says: ##1.## Is the map ##\mathfrak{q}\mapsto \mathfrak{q} A _\mathfrak{p}## from ##A\setminus \mathfrak{p}\to A_\mathfrak{p}##? But I don't understand what the author meant for the rest of the sentence in mathematical notation: ##2.## In the next statement where the author says: How is ##A\to...
The following are taken from the two sources, 1) from this online page and the book An Introduction to Module Theory by: Ibrahim Assem, Flavio U. Coelho. In the Abelian Categories chapter in the module theory text on page 157, right after presenting IV.2.21 Definition, the authors states "Image and coimage may or may not exist, but if they do, then they are unique up to isomorphism (because so are kernels and cokernels). Also in the reference url page above, the authors present two...
When decomposing a representation ##\rho## of a finite group ##G## into irreducible representations, we can find the number of times the representation contains a particular irrep ##\rho_0## through the character inner product $$ \langle \chi, \chi_0\rangle = \frac{1}{|G|} \sum_{g\in G} \chi(g) \chi_0(g)^*$$ where ##\chi## and ##\chi_0## are the characters of ##\rho## and ##\rho_0##, respectively. Since all group elements in the same conjugacy class have the same characters, this may be...

Similar threads

Replies
1
Views
1K
Replies
9
Views
3K
Replies
55
Views
10K
Replies
5
Views
4K
Replies
1
Views
4K
Replies
1
Views
2K
Back
Top