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The unitary representations of the Poincar\'e group in any spacetime dimension

Xavier Bekaert, Nicolas Boulanger

2021SciPost Physics Lecture Notes56 citationsDOIOpen Access PDF

Abstract

An extensive group-theoretical treatment of linear relativistic field equations on Minkowski spacetime of arbitrary dimension D\geqslant 3 <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>D</mml:mi> <mml:mo>≥</mml:mo> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> is presented. An exhaustive treatment is performed of the two most important classes of unitary irreducible representations of the Poincar'e group, corresponding to massive and massless fundamental particles. Covariant field equations are given for each unitary irreducible representation of the Poincar'e group with non-negative mass-squared.

Topics & Concepts

Poincaré groupUnitary representationMinkowski spaceIrreducible representationMathematicsCovariant transformationPure mathematicsLorentz groupRepresentation theory of the Lorentz groupUnitary stateGroup (periodic table)SpacetimeRestricted representationInduced representationMathematical physicsFundamental representationPhysicsQuantum mechanicsLie groupLorentz transformationLawPolitical scienceWeightLie algebraNoncommutative and Quantum Gravity TheoriesBlack Holes and Theoretical PhysicsQuantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect