PH4206/5206 Assignment 1

A Lorentz transformation L connects two dierent inertial observers O and O0 who have a common
origin of space-time :
(x, y, z, t) = (0, 0, 0, 0)

(x0 , y 0 , z 0 , t0 ) = (0, 0, 0, 0)

The transformation is described by a 4 4matrix L whose , -th element is written as (L) =

(note the position of the indices):
or in components

x0 = Lx

x0 = x

The transformation keeps the spacetime interval xT gx g x x invariant, where

1 0
0
0
0 1 0
0

(g ) =
0 0 1 0
0 0
0 1

leading to

LT gL = g

g = g

which can be rewritten as

L1

which means that

Q 1)

T

= gLg 1

or
and

L1

T i

(i) Show that the set of all Lorentz transformations form a group.

This is called the group O (3, 1)

(ii) Prove from LT gL = g that a Lorentz transformation matrix must have det L = 1.
(iii) Show that |0 0 | 1
Hint : put

==0

in

g = g .

(iv) Show that the collection of Lorentz tranformations for which det L = +1 and 0 0 +1 form
a subgroup of O (3, 1).
This subgroup is called SO (3, 1)
The Dirac gamma matrices obey the Cliord algebra
{ , } = 2g I

Q 2)

Consider the matrix

5 i 0 1 2 3

Prove that
(i) 5 is hermitean
2

(ii) ( 5 ) = I
(ii) { 5 , } = 0

Use the results above to show that both 5 and are traceless.
(v) Dene the hermitean matrices
(iv)

P =

1
I 5
2

Show that they are both projection matrices.

Q 3) In the Weyl representation, the gamma matrices are given by
0

0 I
I 0

0 i
i 0

Show that the four matrices satisfy the Cliord algebra { , } = 2g I

(ii) Show that the matrices , dened by
(i)

1
[ , ]
4

are block-diagonal in this representation.

(iii) Write the four-component Dirac spinor as

=

L
R

where L and R are two component matrices (these are called Weyl Spinors). Write down the
Dirac equation in terms of equations obeyed by L and R , respectively.
(iv) Show that for m = 0, the Dirac equation decomposes into independent equations for L and
R .
Q 4) Consider the following set of sixteen matrices
I
0
1
2
3
0 1
0 2
0 3
1 2 1 3 2 3
5 0 5 1 5 2 5 3
5

we will denote them by A with the index running from 0 to 15.

(i) Show that for each A, 2A is either +I or I .
(ii) Prove that each of these matrices A , except for 0 I , there is a B such that {A , B } = 0.
(iii) Hence show that each of the A are traceless.
(iv) Show that for any A and B , the matrix A B is of the form C , where is a nonzero
complex number.
(v) Prove that the A s are linearly independent.
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