English

A geometrical invitation to BMS group theory

High Energy Physics - Theory 2026-02-16 v1 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

In these lecture notes, a group-theoretical introduction to BMS symmetries is provided in a self-contained manner. More precisely, all definitions and structures are purely based on geometrical and group-theoretical notions defined at null infinity and valid in any dimension, in a way that circumvents its traditional bulk realisation as asymptotic symmetries. The topics which are reviewed are: the definition of BMS transformations as conformal Carrollian isometries of null infinity, the semidirect structure of the BMS group, the holographic reconstruction of Minkowski spacetime in terms of good cuts, the one-to-one correspondence between good cut subspaces and Poincar\'e subgroups (aka vacua), as well as a basic introduction to unitary representations of the BMS group.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.12965,
  title  = {A geometrical invitation to BMS group theory},
  author = {Xavier Bekaert and Yannick Herfray and Lea Mele and Noémie Parrini},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.12965},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

30+8 pages

R2 v1 2026-07-01T10:35:22.836Z