Related papers: Mass, zero mass and ... nophysics
The Lorentz group Lor$_{1,3}=$SO$_0(1,3)$ has two point fixgroups, namely SO$(3)$ for time-like translations and SO$_0(1,1)\times R^2$ for light-like translations. However, for light-like translations it is reasonable to consider a line…
Wigner's little groups are subgroups of the Lorentz group dictating the internal space-time symmetries of massive and massless particles. These little groups are like O(3) and E(2) for massive and massless particles respectively. While the…
We derive the stabiliser group of the four-vector, also known as Wigner's little group, in case of massless particle states, as the maximal solvable subgroup of the proper orthochronous Lorentz group of dimension four, known as the Borel…
It is noted that the internal space-time symmetries of relativistic particles are dictated by Wigner's little groups. The symmetry of massive particles is like the three-dimensional rotation group, while the symmetry of massless particles…
I review some aspects of BPS magnetic monopoles and of electric-magnetic duality in theories with arbitrary gauge groups. When the symmetry is maximally broken to a U(1)^r subgroup, all magnetically charged configurations can be understood…
Einstein's photo-electric effect allows us to regard electromagnetic waves as massless particles. Then, how is the photon helicity translated into the electric and magnetic fields perpendicular to the direction of propagation? This is an…
The ``little group'' for massless particles (namely, the Lorentz transformations $\Lambda$ that leave a null vector invariant) is isomorphic to the Euclidean group E2: translations and rotations in a plane. We show how to obtain explicitly…
Our main proposition is that field equations for all spins can be obtained from Casimir eigenvalue equations for Poincare group. We have already confirm that statement for massive scalar, spinor and vector fields in Ref.[1]. In the present…
In spacetimes of any dimensionality, the massless particle states that can be created and destroyed by a field in a given representation of the Lorentz group are severely constrained by the condition that the invariant Abelian subgroup of…
When developing a quantum theory for a physical system, one determines the system's symmetry group and its irreducible unitary representations. For Minkowski space, the symmetry group is the Poincar\'e group, $\mathbb{R}^4 \rtimes…
Some massless supermultiplets appear as the trivial solution of Kostant's equation, a Dirac-like equation over special cosets. We study two examples; one over the coset SU(3)/SU(2) times U(1) contains the N=2 hypermultiplet in (3+1)…
We construct the covariant, spinor sets of relativistic wave equations for a massless field on the basis of the two copies of the R-deformed Heisenberg algebra. For the finite-dimensional representations of the algebra they give a universal…
We study a quantum mechanics with the usual postulates but in which the Heisenberg algebra of canonical commutation relations and the Poincare algebra are replaced by the Lie algebra of the homogeneous Lorentz group SO(5,1). It arises from…
Wigner's little groups are the subgroups of the Lorentz group whose transformations leave the momentum of a given particle invariant. They thus define the internal space-time symmetries of relativistic particles. These symmetries take…
In the present note the expansion of the wave function of a massless particle (with the definite value of its helicity) over the untary irreducible representaions of the Lorentz group (defined on the light cone) is used as for the analog of…
This article shows that one can consistently incorporate nonunitary representations of at least one group into the ``ordinary'' nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. This group turns out to be Lorentz group thus giving us an alternative…
The internal space-time symmetries of relativistic particles are dictated by Wigner's little groups. The $O(3)$-like little group for a massive particle at rest and the $E(2)$-like little group of a massless particle are two different…
The second-order differential equation for a damped harmonic oscillator can be converted to two coupled first-order equations, with two two-by-two matrices leading to the group $Sp(2)$. It is shown that this oscillator system contains the…
The Baumslag-Solitar groups: BS(m,n)=<x,y| x y^{m} x^{-1} = y^{n}> are some of the simplest interesting infinite groups which are not lattices in Lie groups. They have been studied in depth from the point of view of combinatorial group…
The connection between space-time covariant representations (obtained by inducing from the Lorentz group) and irreducible unitary representations (induced from Wigner's little group) of the Poincar\'{e} group is re-examined in the massless…