English

Isometries of Clifford algebras II

Differential Geometry 2017-08-28 v2

Abstract

Let F be a field of characteristic different from 2, and let FnF^{n} denote the vector space of n-tuples of elements in F. Let e1,...,en{e_{1}, ... , e_{n}} denote the canonical basis of FnF^{n}. Let r and s be nonnegative integers such that r + s = n, and let Q denote the nondegenerate bilinear form on FnF^{n} such that Q(ei,ej)=0Q(e_{i}, e_{j}) = 0 if i,j are distinct, Q(ei,ei)=1Q(e_{i},e_{i}) = 1 if 1ir1 \leq i \leq r and Q(er+j,er+j)=1Q(e_{r+j},e_{r+j}) = -1 if 1js1 \leq j \leq s. Let C(r,s)C\ell(r,s) denote the Clifford algebra determined by Q and FnF^{n}. There is a canonical extension of Q to a nondegenerate, symmetric, bilinear form Qˉ\bar{Q} on C(r,s)C\ell(r,s). An element g of C(r,s)C\ell(r,s) will be called an isometry of C(r,s)C\ell(r,s) if left and right translations by g preserve Qˉ\bar{Q}. Let Gr,sG_{r,s} denote the group of all isometries of C(r,s)C\ell(r,s). We construct a Lie algebra LGr,sLG_{r,s} over F that equals the Lie algebra of Gr,sG_{r,s} in the case that F = R or C. The Lie algebra LGr,sLG_{r,s} admits an involutive automorphism whose +1 and -1 eigenspaces determine a Cartan decomposition LGr,s=Kr,sPr,sLG_{r,s} = K_{r,s} \oplus P_{r,s}. We compute the bracket relations for a natural system of generators of LGr,sLG_{r,s}. Finally, we determine LGr,sLG_{r,s} in the case that F = R.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1701.07467,
  title  = {Isometries of Clifford algebras II},
  author = {Patrick Eberlein},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1701.07467},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

31 pages, changes after abstract