Introduction to the Lorentz Group

Peng Zhang

Dec, 2014

1 Introduction
1.1 Histroy and development
The foundation of Lorentz group can be first traced back to the eighteenth century
when people were bothered by the problem of electro-optical phenomena in a moving
body. In 1895, H. Lorentz first proposed the concept of local time instead of Newtons
universal time to give an approximate solution. However, it is only correct for velocities
much slower than the speed of light. In the following years, Poincare had a lot of study
on time and measurements. In 1904, Lorentz claimed that he had already found
the new formula for any velocities smaller than c. During the year of 1904 through 1905,
Poincare made detailed analysis on the full group of transformations termed by the
Lorentz group, In 1928, P. Dirac made pratical applications with the Dirac equation.
In the 1930s, Brauer and Weyl connected spin representations of the Lorentz Lie algebra
and Clifford algebras. In 1939, E. Winger wrote a paper about the the inhomogeneous
Lorentz group which had great influence on both physics and mathematics. During
the same time, infinite dimensional representation theories of the Lorentz group were
elaborated by Fierz, Pauli and Dirac, and followed by Bargmann, Gelfand, Naimark
and Harish-Chandra in the next decade.
The aim of this paper is to give a brief introduction to the Lorentz group. First we
have a short review over the 4-vector algebra and the corresponding transformations
as the mathematical prerequisites. In Section 2, we introduce the concept of Lorentz
group from the Lorentz transformation, and walk through its generators and algebra.
Then we introduce the some finite dimensional representations, and bring them to the
applications in physics. We also pay some attention to the little group idea implemented
by Wigner. In Section 3, we give a short extension to the Poincare group.

1.2 Mathematical prerequisites

The 4-vector notation Lets consider a four dimensional vector space. Regardless
of frames, there are always 4 orthonormal basis vectors ~e , satisfying ~e ~e =

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and constructing any vector in such space: A ~ = A~e , where runs from 0 to 3. The
common 4-vectors could be: the time-displacement vector (ct,~x), the energy-momentum
~ etc. The differentiation of a 4-vector is
vector (E, c~p), the potential vector (, cA),
defined as: := x .

Scalar product and the metric tensor The scalar product of two 4-vectors are
~ B
defined as: A ~ = g A B , where g is called the metric tensor defined on a manifold.
For the Minkowski space, we take the sign convention as:

1 0 0 0
0 1 0 0
G = {g } = 0 0 1 0
, = 0, 1, 2, 3
0 0 0 1
The metric tensor is symmetric that g = g , and g = g = .

Raising and lowering the indices There are two types of 4-vectors. The one with
superscripts A is called contravariant; the other with subscripts A is calledcovariant.
To switch the indices between the superscripts and subscripts, one just needs to multiply
a metric tensor: A = g A , or A = g A .

2 Lorentz group
Now using the vector and tensor notations defined in last section, we start from the
theory of relativity to gain a physical meaning of the Lorentz transformation and boost,
and generalize that to the definition of the Lorentz group.

2.1 Lorentz transformation and the boost

Lets start from the simplest picture that one inertial frame K is moving at the velocity
~v with respect to another inertial frame K. Thus it is already well known that the
displacement 4-vector obeys the Lorentz transformation:
 0   
ct ct
= , x0 = x
x0k xk
1
where = vc , = (1 2 ) 2 , the symbol k and denotes the component parallel or
perpendicular to the direction of velocity respectively. In terms of components, this
transformation could be written as x0 = x , where is referred to as the boost.
If we take ~v only in the x-direction, the boost matrix is defined as:

0 0
0 0
:= { } =
0

0 1 0
0 0 0 1

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The Lorentz boost is a 4 by 4 matrix. It explains how measurements of time and space
in different inertial frames transforms. By observing the components of the boost and
letting = tanh , = cosh , we find that the matrix can also be represented in the
way using hyperbolic functions:

cosh sinh 0 0
sinh cosh 0 0
:= { } =
0 0 1 0
0 0 0 1

In comparison with the pure rotation in the 3-D Euclidean space, the boost could also
be considered as the pure hyperbolic rotations in the 4-D Minkowski space.

2.2 Definition of the Lorentz group

In the SO(3) group, or under the pure rotation in the 3-D Euclidean space, the total
length or the norm of the vector is invariant, and the norm can be achieved from
the inner product of the vector itself. So is the case in the Minkowski space under
a pure hyperbolic rotation, that the norm of the 4-vector should also be invariant.
Assume that one 4-vector A~ transforms into another 4-vector A
~ 0 under a certain boost,
A~ = A,
0 ~ so

~0 A
A ~0 = A
~A
~
A0T GA0 = AT GA
AT (T G)A = AT GA

This has to hold for any vector, so we conclude that

T G = G, or g = g

Now we say that all 44 matrices that satisfy the relation above form a group. It is
called the Lorentz group, denoted as SO(3,1). It is also easy to show that it preserves
the group properties such as closure, associativity, identity and existence of inverse
element.
One interesting thing to note is that even though we get the definition of the Lorentz
group starting from the Lorentz boost, it is actually more than the set of Lorentz boosts.
Lets consider the pure rotation in the 3-D space, which leaves x0 fixed, and the total
length of the 3-D vector xi xi unchanged respectively. So we still have x0 x0 xi xi =
const.
Further more, there are two other matrices, the time reversal T and space inversion
P belong to the Lorentz group, defining as:

T = diag(1, 1, 1, 1), P = diag(1, 1, 1, 1)

Then completely, boost + 3-D rotation + T + P Lorentz group.

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2.3 Classification of the Lorentz group
There are two ways to classify the Lorentz group.

Proper or improper From the definition of the Lorentz group, it is straightforward

to find that det()=1. The set of det()=+1 induces the proper transformation,
while the set of det()=-1 induces the improper.

Orthochronous or non-orthochronous By taking the 0 component of the ma-

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trices, it is also straightforward to get (00 )2 = 1 + (i0 )2 1. So the set of 00 1
P
i=1
induces the orthochronous transformation, while the set of 00 1 induces the non-
orthochronous.

Subgroups From the classifications of the Lorentz group, we naturally get three
subgroups: the proper set, the orthochoronous set, and the combination of the two
sets. However, it is necessary to note that there are far more subgroups than these
three. We will show some more examples in the next section.

2.4 Generators and the Lie algebra

Now we study the generators and the algebra of the Lorentz group. There are two ways
through this. The first one is more intuitive. Since we already know that the Lorentz
group contains both boosts and 3-D rotations. Either of the two have three matrix
generators according to the direction of the rotation. For the generators of boosts,
Ki = i d() | ,
d =0

0 i 0 0 0 0 i 0 0 0 0 i
i 0 0 0
, K2 = 0 0 0 0 , K3 = 0 0 0 0

K1 = 0 0 0 0 i 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 i 0 0 0

For the generators of 3-D rotations, Li = i dR() | ,

d =0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
, L2 = 0 0 0 i ,
0 0 i 0
L1 =
0 0 0 i 0 0 0 0 L3 =
0

i 0 0
0 0 i 0 0 i 0 0 0 0 0 0
The other method is more rigorous and considers the infinitesimal transformations. Let
= g + , where are very small numbers. So

g =
= g + + +

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Leaving out the high order term, we find that = . This indicates that there
are only six independent parameters in the 4 by 4 matrix. Then we have:
X i
= i (M ) = (M )
<
2
i
= g (M )
2
where (M ) = g g g g for < , and (M ) = (M ) for > . Then
the six generators are defined as:

Ki = M 0i
Li = ijk M jk

and we reproduce the exactly same results as the first method.

The algebra of commutation relations of these six generators are:

[Li , Lj ] = iijk Lk
[Ki , Kj ] = iijk Lk
[Li , Kj ] = iijk Kk

The first commutation relation shows that the rotation closes on itself and form a
subgroup of the Lorentz group. However, the second commutation relation indicates
that two consecutive boosts in different directions is never another boost but a boost
plus rotation. So the boosts do not form a subgroup of the Lorentz group.

2.5 Representations of the Lorentz group

The commutation relations above imply couplings between Li and Ji . By reconstructing
two new generators we are able to decouple them and simplify the algebra:
1
Ji := (Li iKi )
2
and backwards,Li = Ji+ +Ji , Ki = i(Ji+ Ji ). Then the new commutation relations
are:

[Ji , Jj ] = iijk Jk
[Ji+ , Jj ] = 0

Its obvious that the SO(3,1) algebra breaks up into two SU(2) algebra. In many liter-
atures, its said that SO(3,1) is locally isomorphic to SU(2) SU(2) simplily because
of the consistency of their algebra. However, in other literatures, people are very care-
ful. More precisely, since the generators J are non-Hermitian, and the group SO(3,1)
is non-compact due to the sign of the time-space metric, in contrast with the group

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SO(4), the representations of SO(3,1) are not always unitary. Then we would rather
say that SO(3,1) is locally isomorphic to SL(2,C). Then whats the actual relation
between SO(3,1) and SU(2) SU(2)? We should say that the complexified algebras
are identical or the complex linear combinations of the generators of the Lorentz
algebra are isomorphic to the complex linear combinations of the Lie algebra of SU(2)
SU(2).
The matrix for a general combination of boosts and rotations is given by:

D = ei(i Ki +i Li )
+
= ei(i ii )Ji ei(i +ii )Ji

Then we can use (j + , j ) to label the representations with (2j + +1)(2j +1) components.

Scalar representations When (j + , j )=(0,0), there is only one degree of freedom.

This trivial representation acts on the 1-D vector space and does not change anything:

1 .

Vector representations When (j + , j ) = ( 12 , 12 ), there are 4 degrees of freedom

and the representation transforms under a 4-D vector space: D(4) (). Since the
Lorentz group element itself is a 4 by 4 matrix, the representation in the 4-D vector
space will just be themselves, the defining representations of the Lorentz group.

Spinorial representations When (j + , j ) = (0, 12 ), or (j + , j ) = ( 21 , 0), they are

called left-handed Weyl spinors or right-handed Weyl spinors respectively. In ad-
dition, there are 2 degrees of freedom for both of them. Since they have the same
algebra as the SU(2) group, we may essentially make use of the Pauli matrices.
In the case of the left spinor, j + = 0 gives that Li = iKi , while for the right spinor,
j = 0 gives that Li = iKi . So we can set:
1 i
L : Li = i , Ki = i
2 2
1 i
R : Li = i , Ki = i
2 2
where i are Pauli matrices. Then the transformations in the 2-D vector space are
represented as:
i
ei(i +ii ) L
L
i
ei(i ii ) R
R

By placing the left and right spinors together, one can form a 4-component reducible
representation. It is referred to as Dirac spinor or bi-spinor representation, used to

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 1 1
  It is a reducible representation denoted as (0, 2 ) ( 2 , 0), and
describe the electrons.
L
transforms like :
R
i
ei(i +ii )
     
L 0 L

i(i ii ) i
R 0 e R

Then the questions comes why we need the reducible bi-spinor rather than the irre-
ducible Weyl spinor to describe electrons? The reason is parity. The representation has
to be invariant under the transformation of parity. However, under parity, we find that
~x ~x, p~ p~, so L~ L,
~ K ~ K,~ and finally J~+ J~ , implying the state ( 1 , 0)
2
exchanges with (0, 12 ). Thus in order to keep the invarience of parity, we must use the
reducible bi-spinor.

Other representations Depending on the value of j + and j , there are of course

other representations. For example, (1,0) and (0,1) are called self-dual and anti-self-
dual 2-form field representations. Similarity as the bi-spinor for the parity reason,
we can construct the reducible (0, 1) (1, 0) named the parity-invariant 2-form field
representation. It is the representation under which the electromagnetic field tensor
F transforms. All these representations we discussed above are finite representations
of the Lorentz group. People also developed the infinite representation theory. We do
not go into details of these.

2.6 Little group

Here we introduce the concept of Little group which may appear in the quantum field
theory class.

Little group Let p~ be a vector in the vector space. The maximal subgroup Gp of G
leaving p~ invariant is referred to as the little group of G at p~. For example, the rotation
around the z-axis is a little group of the 3-D rotation SO(3) at (0, 0, 1). The rotation
around the x-axis also forms a little group of SO(3) at (1, 0, 0). These two little groups
are conjugate to each other.

Orbits Let p be one point in the vector space. Applying all transformations G on
p, we get a set of points. This set of points is referred to as the orbit of G at p.
For example, if we apply all rotations in SO(3) for the point (R, 0, 0), we get the
surface of a sphere with radius R. The surface of this sphere is the orbit of SO(3) at
(R, 0, 0). In addition, two orbits are either identical or disjoint. There is a one-to-one
correspondence between the ortbit and the coset space G/Gp .
Now lets come back to the Lorentz group. There are 6 orbits for the Lorentz group
as is shown in the figure. Considering p~ as a 4-vector in the Minkowski space with

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 Figure 1: Visual sketch of different orbits. Taken from Ref. [6]

p p = m2 where m is some constant. For Orbit 1 and 2, it is easy to find that:

    
1 m m
~0 = ~0
R(3)
Obviously, the rotation subgroup is a little group of the proper Lorentz group.
For Orbit 3 and 4, we take into account the point (m, 0, 0, m). Wigner found out
that the the composition of two matrices left the vector invariant. T (u, v)R()~p = p~.
For positive m. we have:
u

1 0 u
1
0 1 v v , R() = Rz(2) ()

T (u, v) =
u v 1 u2 +v 2 u2 +v 2

2 2
u2 +v 2 u2 +v 2 1
u v 2 1+ 2
For negative m, T is taken as the Hermitian transpose while R remains the same form.
This little group represented by T R is isomorphic to SE(2), a group consisting of
rotations and translations in the 2-D plane.
For Orbit 5, we choose the vector to be (0, 0, 0, m). Then the rotation around
z-axis and boosts around x-axis and y-axis together make the vector invariant. This
indicates that the little group is isomorphic to SO(2,1).
For Orbit 6, it is just the single origin point. Then all matrices in the proper Lorentz
group will leave it invarant. The little group is a trivial one.

3 Poincare group
Till now we have discussed the Lorentz group. As we see, either for the boosts or the
rotations, we do have a fixed origin without considering the space-time translations.

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So the Lorentz group we discussed on the last section is also called the homogeneous
Lorentz group. Taking into account the space-time translation, we reach a more general
transformation on the 4-D Minkowski space:
x0 = x + a
The group of these inhomogeneous Lorentz transformations is called the Poincare group.
Actually, the Poincare group is a semidirect product of the translation group and
the Lorentz group. So besides the 3 generators Ki for Lorentz boosts and 3 generators
Li for spatial rotations, there are another 4 translation generators defined as:

P = i = i
x
Therefore, there are 10 generators of the Poincare group in total. The representations
of the Poincare group can be labeled by the Casimir operators. It is the full symmetry
group of relativistic field theory. Here we just give a rough introduction but leave out
any expansions.

4 Conclusions
In this article, we have a review on the Lorentz group and make a rough sketch to its
extension the Poincare group. Lorentz group is a very powerful mathematical tool in
modern physics. It starts from the Lorentz tranformations, generalized and summerized
by Poincare, developed and perfected by Wigner and many brilliant scientists and
mathematicians. It shines light on all areas of modern physics, the theory of special
relativity, quantum field theory, the standard model, supersymmetry, etc.

Reference
[1] H. F. Jones, Groups, representations and physics (2nd ed), Institute of Physics
Publishing (Bristol, 1998).
[2] Y. S. Kim and M. E. Noz, Theory and applications of the Poincare group, D. Reidel
Publishing Company (Dordrecht, 1986).
[3] Notes by J. Maciejako, Representations of Lorentz and Poincare groups, from
website http://einrichtungen.ph.tum.de/T30f/lec/QFT/groups.pdf.
[4] Notes by H. Yamamoto, Quantum field theory for non-specialists, Chapter 1, from
website http://epx.phys.tohoku.ac.jp/~yhitoshi/particleweb/.
[5] B. Shutz, A first course in general relativity, Cambridge University Press (New York,
2009).
[6] Lorentz group, wikipedia, from website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorentz_
group.
[7] Notes by F. Tanedo, Fun and supersymmetry, from website http://www.physics.
uci.edu/~tanedo/files/notes/FlipSUSY.pdf

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[8] J. Reignier, Poincare synchronization: From the local time to the Lorentz group,,
Proceedings of the Symposium Henri Poincare (Brussels, 8-9 October 2004).
[9] A. Zee, Quantum field theory in a nutshell, Princeton University Press (New Jersey,
2003).

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