Related papers: Fourvector algebra
The satisfactory development of Quaternionic Analysis has indicated new solutions for physical and mathematical problems. It is worth mentioning the fact that quaternions possess four dimensions, and in this way they may be considered as…
We give a simple and self contained introduction to quaternions and their practical usage in dynamics. The rigid body dynamics are presented in full details. In the appendix, some more exotic relations are given that allow to write more…
Quaternions provide a unified algebraic and geometric framework for representing three-dimensional rotations without the singularities that afflict Euler-angle parametrisations. This article develops a pedagogical and conceptual analysis of…
It is known that quaternions represent rotations in 3D Euclidean and Minkowski spaces. However, product by a quaternion gives rotation in two independent planes at once and to obtain single-plane rotations one has to apply by half-angle…
A century after its formulation by Einstein, it is time to incorporate special relativity early in the physics curriculum. The approach advocated here employs a simple algebraic extension of vector formalism that generates Minkowski…
Explicit formulae for the $4\times 4$ Lorentz transformation matrices corresponding to a pure boost and a pure three-dimensional rotation are very well-known. Significantly less well-known is the explicit formula for a general Lorentz…
This work provides explicit characterizations and formulae for the minimal polynomials of a wide variety of structured $4\times 4$ matrices. These include symmetric, Hamiltonian and orthogonal matrices. Applications such as the complete…
We construct representations of a q-oscillator algebra by operators on Fock space on positive matrices. They emerge from a multiresolution scaling construction used in wavelet analysis. The representations of the Cuntz Algebra arising from…
It is an easily deduced fact that any four-component spin 1/2 state for a massive particle is a linear combination of pairs of two-component simultaneous rotation eigenstates, where `simultaneous' means the eigenspinors of a given pair…
This paper performs the modeling of a Cubli, a cube with three reaction wheels mounted on orthogonal faces that becomes a reaction wheel based 3D inverted pendulum when positioned in one of its vertices. The approach novelty is that…
To study operator algebras with symmetries in a wide sense we introduce a notion of {\em relative convolution operators} induced by a Lie algebra. Relative convolutions recover many important classes of operators, which have been already…
To each 4x4 matrix of reals another 4x4 matrix is constructed, the so-called associate matrix. This associate matrix is shown to have rank 1 and norm 1 (considered as a 16D vector) if and only if the original matrix is a 4D rotation matrix.…
Inspired by the relation between the algebra of complex numbers and plane geometry, William Rowan Hamilton sought an algebra of triples for application to three dimensional geometry. Unable to multiply and divide triples, he invented a…
Historically, there have been many attempts to produce an appropriate mathematical formalism for modeling the nature of physical space, such as Euclid's geometry, Descartes' system of Cartesian coordinates, the Argand plane, Hamilton's…
Angular momentum is traditionally taught as a (pseudo)vector quantity, tied closely to the cross product. This approach is familiar to experts but challenging for students, and full of subtleties. Here, we present an alternative pedagogical…
It is known that the groups of Euclidean rotations in dimension 3 (isometries of $S^2$), general Lorentz transformations in dimension 4 (Hyperbolic isometries in dimension 3), and screw motions in dimension 3 can be represented by the…
In this paper the proofs are given that the electric and magnetic fields are properly defined vectors on the four-dimensional (4D) spacetime (the 4-vectors in the usual notation) and not the usual 3D fields. Furthermore, the proofs are…
We point out, by exhibiting two examples and mentioning a third one, that it is sometimes useful to consider Lorentz transformations as generated from hyperplane or line reflections. One example concerns the construction of boosts linking…
Linear algebra is usually defined over a field such as the reals or complex numbers. It is possible to extend this to skew fields such as the quaternions. However, to the authors' knowledge there is no commonly accepted notation of linear…
For certain problems involving vector fields, it is possible to find an associated imaginary field that, in conjunction with the first, forms a complex field for which the equation can be solved. This result is generalized to arbitrary…