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Concept
Algebra of physical space
Summary
In physics, the algebra of physical space (APS) is the use of the Clifford or geometric algebra Cl3,0(R) of the three-dimensional Euclidean space as a model for (3+1)-dimensional spacetime, representing a point in spacetime via a paravector (3-dimensional vector plus a 1-dimensional scalar).
The Clifford algebra Cl3,0(R) has a faithful representation, generated by Pauli matrices, on the spin representation C2; further, Cl3,0(R) is isomorphic to the even subalgebra Cl(R) of the Clifford algebra Cl3,1(R).
APS can be used to construct a compact, unified and geometrical formalism for both classical and quantum mechanics.
APS should not be confused with spacetime algebra (STA), which concerns the Clifford algebra Cl1,3(R) of the four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime.
In APS, the spacetime position is represented as the paravector
where the time is given by the scalar part x0 = t, and e1, e2, e3 are the standard basis for position space. Throughout, units such that c = 1 are used, called natural units. In the Pauli matrix representation, the unit basis vectors are replaced by the Pauli matrices and the scalar part by the identity matrix. This means that the Pauli matrix representation of the space-time position is
Lorentz transformation and Rotor (mathematics)
The restricted Lorentz transformations that preserve the direction of time and include rotations and boosts can be performed by an exponentiation of the spacetime rotation biparavector W
In the matrix representation, the Lorentz rotor is seen to form an instance of the SL(2,C) group (special linear group of degree 2 over the complex numbers), which is the double cover of the Lorentz group. The unimodularity of the Lorentz rotor is translated in the following condition in terms of the product of the Lorentz rotor with its Clifford conjugation
This Lorentz rotor can be always decomposed in two factors, one Hermitian B = B†, and the other unitary R† = R−1, such that
The unitary element R is called a rotor because this encodes rotations, and the Hermitian element B encodes boosts.
Official source
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